Latest United Nations Biodiversity Summit opens in Colombia; This is what is at stake
Considered the world’s most important event for biodiversity conservation, the summit is taking place in Cali, the South American country’s third largest city, and will attract about 15,000 attendees, including dozens of heads of state, 103 ministers and more than 1,000 international journalists.
Aiming to promote international cooperation, unify investments to protect ecosystems and strengthen global environmental policies, COP16 takes its roadmap as Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework (GBF), a landmark plan to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, adopted at COP15 in Canada.
What is “biodiversity”?
United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) describes biodiversity as “the diversity within species, between species and ecosystems, including plants, animals, bacteria and fungi”. These three worked together to create life on Earth, with all its complexity.
The diversity of species keeps the global ecosystem in balance, providing everything in nature that we humans need to survive, including food, clean water, medicine and shelter. Biodiversity is also our strongest natural defense against climate change. Land and ocean ecosystems act as “carbon sinks,” absorbing more than half of all carbon emissions.
Delegates at COP16, officially the 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, will discuss how to restore rapidly degraded lands and seas in a way that protect the planet and respect the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.
The main objective will be to fully implement the so-called ‘30 x 30‘ Kunming-Montreal is committed to protecting 30% of the planet’s land and inland waters, as well as marine and coastal areas, by 2030.
‘Postcard landscapes’ inspire action
Marking the first global meeting on the critical issue of biodiversity since 2022, when countries agreed on a historic framework, COP16 will run until November 1 in Cali, the capital of Valle del Cauca. The area is surrounded by the magical sounds of the jungle, fresh streams, lush green mountains and the power of the Pacific Ocean in the northwest of the country.
Fish swim through a coral nursery in Corales del Rosario National Park, Colombia.
Colombia’s Pacific region is marked by landscapes that could be printed on postcards for their beauty. Colombia is considered one of the most biodiverse countries in the world with 311 types of continental and marine ecosystems per square kilometer.
Home to more than a thousand species of birds, four thousand species of orchids, and with 53% of its territory covered by forests, Colombia’s choice to host COP16 highlights the region’s importance in the diversity agenda global biology and its fundamental role. in protecting ecosystems.
Biodiversity plan
During the opening ceremony of the summit on Sunday, Secretary-General António Guterres calling delegations from some 190 countries to “make peace with nature” and promote plans to halt habitat loss, save endangered species and preserve the planet’s precious ecosystems we.
The UN chief’s call was made in a video message sent to the meeting’s opening ceremony. The Secretary-General said: “this framework is based on a clear truth – for humanity to survive, nature must thrive…it promises to reset the relationship with the Earth and its ecosystems ”.
Mr. Guterres emphasized that delegations must leave Cali with significant investments in GBF, related funds and a commitment to mobilize other public and private financial resources to fully realize their goals.
“We have a plan to rescue humanity from a degraded Earth,” the Secretary-General said, adding that he looked forward to meeting delegates in person at the end of the COP “to hear how you fared.” ”.
Colombia, ‘epicenter of global climate action’
Colombia’s Minister of Environment and COP16 President, Susana Muhamad, emphasized that “Colombia has become the epicenter of global climate action, uniting leaders and experts to tackle the biggest challenge in the world. our time: protecting our planet and ensuring a sustainable future”.
She added: “Understanding that if we protect all forms of life, we are protecting ourselves, we build the principle of peace with nature, which also means finding peace among villages ”. wave at the place where the meeting is taking place.
Susana Muhamad, Colombian Minister of Environment and President of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16).
National action plan
Former Colombian Environment Minister Manuel Rodríguez Becerra said UN News that one of the key challenges is to ensure that countries make more significant progress on their action plans.
“Only 20% of countries present these national plans over two years [after] COP15, where this global framework was agreed. We hope that, during COP16 in Cali, many countries will present their national plans or will be very ready. There is still a mistake that we must recognize and that is why it is important to make progress in the monitoring system for compliance to achieve the set goals,” he said.
“Regarding finances, we must start filling the gap with current resources of $200,000 million compared to the $700,000 million requested,” the expert concluded.
The 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity is considered the most important event to take place in Colombia in the past 50 years.
