COP16: Key outcomes from the UN biodiversity conference in Cali, Colombia
One side event the first week of COP16 was on 'Strengthening Multilevel Accountability' organised in the Dutch pavilion by Wageningen University & Research. It approached the complex topic of accountability to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Kunming-Montreal Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework targets from very different disciplinary perspectives. This side event brought together social scientists and practitioners to share insights on how multilevel accountability mechanisms can drive positive outcomes for nature. The cyclical process of planning, monitoring, reporting, and reviewing within a responsibility and transparency framework is essential for successful implementation. A featured speaker was IEF board member Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen.
Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen speaking at the side event
Carbon Brief is publishing in-depth summaries of all the key outcomes from COP16. Here is the introduction:
The COP16 biodiversity summit came to an abrupt halt after countries failed to reach consensus on the creation of a new fund during a mammoth 10-hour final plenary session.
Countries debated through the night on Friday in Cali, Colombia, in an attempt to get through the many items on COP16’s agenda.
But, as the talks dragged on into Saturday morning, a large number of developing-country delegates were forced to catch flights home, leaving parties without the “quorum” needed to reach consensus on key issues.
Countries did manage to find consensus on a new benefit-sharing mechanism for genetic resources – known as the “Cali fund” – after lengthy discussions and last-minute text changes put forward by India to protect sovereign rights.
Nations also agreed to a new permanent body for Indigenous peoples, which will allow them to advise and offer their view at biodiversity COPs directly for the first time.
However, the thorny issue of setting up a new fund under the COP – and the final agenda item on a new framework for monitoring countries’ progress on tackling biodiversity loss – will need to be revisited at intersessional meetings next year.
Talks were overshadowed by a lack of progress on implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the landmark “Paris Agreement for nature” deal made at COP15 in Montreal in 2022.
A joint investigation by Carbon Brief and the Guardian revealed just before the summit opened that the vast majority of countries missed a deadline to set out new plans for how they will meet the targets of the framework ahead of COP16.
By the summit’s end, just 44 out of 196 parties – 22% – had come up with new biodiversity plans.
Some megadiverse nations and major economies said they did not have the time needed to put plans in place, while developing countries said they were not provided with the funding required to produce new pledges.
You can click on any topic below that interests you to read Carbon Brief's in-depth summary and analysis of the key outcomes of COP16.
- Formal negotiations
- National biodiversity pledges (NBSAPs) and global review
- Finance
- Digital sequence information
- Monitoring framework
- Article 8(j)
- Biodiversity and climate change
- Mainstreaming biodiversity
- Synthetic biology
- Biodiversity and health
- Marine and coastal biodiversity
- Links with other bodies
- Invasive alien species
- Capacity-building and knowledge management
- Sustainable wildlife management
- Other matters
- Around the COP
SOURCE: Carbon Brief
Last updated 4 November 2024
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