STATEMENT: COP16 Biodiversity Summit Concludes with Some Progress, but Major Work Remains

The COP16 summit concluded in Cali, Colombia, with an outcome that includes a new fund for digital sequencing information and a new permanent body for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The negotiations were suspended with numerous issues still to be resolved — including on finance and the monitoring framework —and will resume at a later date.

The COP — characterized by record levels of attendance and an inclusive approach involving Indigenous Peoples and local communities — saw major engagement on the sidelines, including on the Amazon rainforest, cities, restoration, food and land use, and finance for tropical forests. WRI convened partners and advanced numerous initiatives including the Pan-Amazon Network for the Bioeconomy launch, the Nature Crime Alliance, Cities for Forests, Global Forest Watch, LandMark and the Ocean Panel.

Following is a statement from Crystal Davis, Global Director, Food, Land and Water, World Resources Institute:

“These negotiations ended with a cautious step forward to safeguard nature and a sense of incremental progress toward the world’s biodiversity goals. Developing countries now have a new pot of money to protect biodiversity, with a fund that urges companies to contribute for the digitally stored genetic resources they use for medicines and cosmetics. While an important breakthrough, contributions to the fund are voluntary and the responsibility now lies with companies to show impact.

“The new permanent body to bring Indigenous Peoples and local communities into the negotiations is a major development. It gives a more formal voice and decision-making power to the most responsible stewards of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems and biggest carbon sinks. Now countries need to ensure that this translates into more finance and stronger policies to enshrine Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ land rights into law.

“Yet there are still major reasons for concern. This COP was meant to be a status check on countries’ progress toward saving nature and all indicators on that status are blinking red. The primary concern is that countries are not on track to protect 30% of the world’s land and water by 2030. Without conserving the most critical ecosystems, the consequences for all countries will be immense.

“Finance remains the key sticking point. Most of the world’s biodiversity lies in developing countries that reasonably expect billions rather than millions to support their efforts to protect and restore nature. Yet wealthier countries’ pledges at COP16 fell far short of what is needed to meet their commitments. And almost no progress has been made on repurposing nature-harming subsidies.

“While a few dozen countries submitted new national biodiversity action plans and over 100 have submitted revised national targets in line with the Global Biodiversity Framework, we urgently need all nations to come forward with robust and ambitious plans.

“After years of negotiations, the world agreed on a new shared understanding of the most important areas of the world’s ocean to conserve, through procedures for describing Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas.

“Many of the brightest spots emerged outside the official negotiations. There we saw radical collaboration and transformative ideas that gave us cause for hope. The Colombia Presidency deserves credit for making this perhaps the most inclusive COP ever, actively incorporating the voices of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

“Diverse actors came together to advance new movements on rainforests, the ocean and cities. There was increasing awareness around the need to tackle nature crime, to integrate climate and nature policies, and to shift toward economic models that work with rather than against nature. And we saw unprecedented levels of private sector engagement.

“Political leaders should now return home and start by raising nature to the top of their political priority list. All countries should start mainstreaming their biodiversity and climate goals into sectoral policies, including for agriculture, land use, infrastructure and energy. We urge countries to deliver strong finance outcomes at the upcoming G20 and COP29 meetings, where they should continue bridging nature and climate action for people and planet alike.”

WRI is a key partner in the Nature Positive Initiative, which aims to unify efforts across diverse stakeholders to advocate for, support, and implement actions to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. See the events hosted by WRI and partners at the Nature Positive Pavilion at COP16 here