COP16: summary of the conference

The 16th UN Conference on Biological Diversity (COP16) concluded in Cali, Colombia, where important agreements were reached.

The Conference lasted 12 days, during which a total of 600 scientific events were organized with a total of about 31,000 participants, including Heads of State, officials, members of the public and experts.

Photo from www.cop16colombia.com

Susana Muhamad, Colombia's Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development and chair of this conference, announced that it resulted in three important agreements that include:

• Establishment of a subsidiary body for indigenous peoples in Africa and local communities;
• Recognize people of African descent as custodians of biodiversity under the Convention;
• Developing a work plan for communities through 2030.

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A new “Kali Fund” has also been created to ensure that the benefits of digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources are shared. A portion of the profits of companies using DSI will go to indigenous peoples and local communities, including women and youth.

However, many participants were disappointed with the outcome of the conference. Discussions on establishing a larger biodiversity fund and other key decisions were suspended for lack of a quorum. This outcome risks undermining the credibility of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and jeopardizing its implementation. Also of concern was the low level of contributions to the Global Biodiversity Fund: instead of the required billions, about 400 million dollars have been collected so far.

Commenting on the suspension of the meeting, Kirsten Schuijt, CEO of WWF International, added: “Despite the valiant efforts of Colombia and the tireless work of many negotiators to find consensus and build bridges between countries, this outcome jeopardizes the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. No one should accept this because it will affect us all. Fulfilling the mission to halt and reverse the loss of nature by 2030 has never been easy, but now we are dangerously off course.”

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