The COP16 Biodiversity Conference in Cali, Colombia failed on Saturday with many delegates leaving the country before resolving key issues.
The summit failed to meet its main goal of securing funding for ambitious conservation commitments made at the previous summit, COP15, with critics blaming rich nations and corporate lobbying.
But a consensus was reached, including a new body representing indigenous peoples in conservation efforts and a fund set up to see big firms contribute a portion of their revenue to nature protection.
How did the conference end?
The summit was supposed to end on Friday, November 1, but was delayed until the early hours of Saturday after delegates failed to reach an agreement on key issues.
After delegates from many nations left to catch flights home, the conference failed to reach a quorum and was forced to end, causing confusion among some attendees.
But COP16 has not formally reached a consensus and delegates are expected to meet next year at an interim summit in Bangkok to resolve outstanding issues.
What was agreed?
One of the main outcomes of the conference was the creation of a subsidiary body that will allow indigenous peoples to be represented and consulted on future conservation issues.
For the first time, descendants of African communities were also recognized within the convention.
These agreements were hailed as “historic” by Susana Muhamad, President of COP16 and Colombia’s Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development.
“The value of the traditional knowledge of indigenous, African and local communities is recognized with this decision and a historic debt has been repaid,” Muhamad said in X.
The minister shared a video showing representatives of these communities celebrating the announcement.
EstefanĂa Gonzalez, Deputy Director of Campaigns at Greenpeace Andino, also hailed these results as “extremely important progress during long and challenging negotiations”.
Another key outcome of the conference was the agreement on a strategy to raise money for conservation through contributions from private companies.
Specifically, some firms that benefit from genetic data from nature will be expected to pay 0.1% of revenue or 1% of profits to a nature conservation fund.
Glenn Walker, Head of the Nature Program at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said Latin American Reports that the movement was positive, but did not go far enough.
“0.1% of corporate income from nature is only up to $1 billion a year. That’s very low, but it’s going in the right direction,” Walker said.
He also welcomed the fact that 50% of these funds will go to indigenous peoples and local communities.
“They are the ones who protect these genetic resources. And they are the ones who can do more with this money. The era of hacking and grabbing corporate profits from nature is coming to an end,” he commented.
What remains unresolved?
Despite some agreements, the biggest issue on the table at COP16 remains unresolved. Going into the summit, host country Colombia made it clear that the summit’s priority was securing funding for the commitments made at COP15.
At the 2022 summit in Montreal, delegates from rich countries pledged to raise $20 billion in conservation funds annually by 2025.
Apart from funding the genetic data, which will be optional for the firms, no funding commitments were made.
Neidinha SuruĂ, an activist and leader of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous People in the Brazilian Amazon, criticized the outcome of COP16.
“The COP ended badly, with rich countries … making no commitment to have a fund to conserve biodiversity, which is a clear demonstration that they are not concerned about the planet,” she said. Latin American Reports.
SuruĂ was also unimpressed by the summit’s commitments to indigenous representation.
“Creating a consultative body is a step forward, but without a fund to give resources to indigenous peoples to maintain actions to protect their territories, it will have little effect,” she commented.
The indigenous leader called for a “permanent fund to recover what has been lost”, describing compensation from genetic data as “inadequate”.
What now?
With the summit closed, delegates must wait a year to revisit biodiversity issues at the UN level.
But later this month, the countries will send delegates to Azerbaijan to attend the highest-profile COP29 climate conference.
According to An Lambrechts, head of Greenpeace’s COP16 delegation, the Cali conference will have a direct impact on the upcoming summit. She sees the failure to create a conservation fund as damaging to relations between nations.
“With a week to go until the start of COP29, not deciding on a fund damages trust between countries of the Global South and North,” said Lambrechts.
As nations look set to continue squabbling, the daily struggle continues for those like Neidinha SuruĂ who live on the front lines of climate change and biodiversity loss.
Her WhatsApp status simply reads, “protecting the forest”.
