#biodiversity cop16

[rjzimmerman]

I've been uttering the mantra of this article for a dozen years, at least since I started this Tumblr thing. Deal properly with the environment, and in doing so we will deal properly with the climate. Tweedledum and tweedledee. We cannot focus on one without focusing on the other, or we will fail at both. Climate crisis = Biodiversity crisis. Period.

But from what I'm reading, the biodiversity COP 16 which started a couple of weeks ago is not working so well. Why? As is usually the case, $$$$$.

Excerpt from this story from Covering Climate Now:

“Climate is Nature. Nature is climate.” So began an article previewing this week’s COP16 biodiversity conference published by Sumaúma, an extraordinary newsroom (and Covering Climate Now partner) in the Brazilian Amazon.

Sumaúma explained that Colombia, the host of COP16, is proposing a radical but common-sense departure from previous negotiations: “Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad has declared that one of the priorities of the conference will be a unified pledge on climate and biodiversity.” Climate and biodiversity are “two sides of the same coin,” the article added, noting that the minister called the current practice of treating them separately “dangerous.”

The global media has a history of treating the biodiversity crisis as separate from and less important than the climate crisis.  One study analyzing newspapers in the US, Canada, and UK found that climate change received eight times more coverage than biodiversity did between 1991 and 2018, and there’s no reason to think the trend has changed since then. The COP16 negotiations, which take place in Cali, Colombia, from October 21 through November 1, offer journalists a chance to correct this imbalance.

The lede of the Sumaúma article hints at a key point to bear in mind: Global warming drives species loss, and species loss drives global warming. There is, however, a good news corollary: Reducing global warming limits species loss, and reducing species loss limits global warming.

Scientific research has now confirmed what Indigenous peoples have long understood, Sumaúma noted: “Nature, particularly microorganisms such as bacteria, does much of the work of maintaining the world’s temperature, salinity, acidity and chemical balance.” Two human activities are primarily responsible for pushing plant and animal species to extinction: burning fossil fuels, which boosts global temperatures; and destroying habitats by cutting down forests to increase farmland. These, and kindred activities, have slashed global wildlife populations by an average of 73% over the last 50 years. “It’s shameful that our single species is driving the extinction of thousands of others,” Tom Oliver, a professor of applied ecology at the University of Reading, told the Guardian.

Officially, COP16 is tasked with assessing how much progress the world’s governments have made since COP15, when they adopted a landmark plan to reach so-called “30 by 30 goals” — conserving 30% of Earth’s land and water area and restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030. Turning these commitments into credible national policies that actually get implemented is one test of success. As with climate negotiations, much will hinge on whether rich countries provide poor ones the financial aid needed to halt deforestation and other damaging practices.

Journalists can also grade COP16’s achievements by assessing how Indigenous peoples are treated there. The world’s 370 million Indigenous people occupy roughly 20% of Earth’s territory; yet that 20% contains 80% of all known terrestrial plant and animal species. That outstanding record of stewardship reinforces Indigenous people’s long-standing calls for governments to respect their knowledge and agency in deliberations such as COP16 — and at the COP29 climate talks starting on November 11 as well.

[thoughtlessarse]

More than 80% of countries have failed to submit plans to meet a UN agreement to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems, new analysis has found. Nearly two years ago, the world struck a once-in-a-decade deal in Montreal, Canada, that included targets to protect 30% of land and sea for nature, reform billions of dollars on environmentally harmful subsidies and slash pesticide usage. Countries committed to submit their plans for meeting the agreement before the biodiversity Cop16 in Cali, Colombia, which begins this month – but only 25 countries have done so. The other 170 countries have failed to meet the deadline. The world has never yet met a single target set in the history of UN biodiversity agreements, and there had been a major push to make sure this decade was different. Analysis by Carbon Brief and the Guardian shows that some of the most important ecosystems on the planet are not covered by National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). Only five of the 17 megadiverse countries, home to about 70% of the world’s biodiversity, produced NBSAPs: Australia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Mexico. Suriname was the only Amazon rainforest nation to submit a plan, and no Congo basin nations had produced NBSAPs by the deadline. Canada, Italy, France and Japan were the only G7 nations to meet the deadline. The UK has submitted a technical document to the UN convention on biological diversity but is not expected to publish its plan until the beginning of 2025, citing the change of government. Crystal Davis, global director for the Food, Land and Water Program at the World Resources Institute, said: “Nature is facing a crisis, largely driven by humanity’s use of the land and ocean … at Cop16, it’s time for all countries to step up and turn a landmark global agreement to protect and restore nature into action.”

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[akaashmaharaj]

Moving the UN from Prim Words to Urgent Deeds

Our world is enduring the sixth mass extinction in its history: the Anthropocene Extinction. Species are disappearing at a thousand times the natural rate.

Unlike the great dyings of past epochs, this one is driven not by natural planetary catastrophes, but by human activity.

My role as a member of Canada’s state delegation at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity is to wield Nature Canada’s policy expertise, to press the treaty from prim words to urgent deeds.

🌱 http://via.maharaj.org/cop16

[notwiselybuttoowell]

CALI, Colombia (AP) — After two weeks of negotiations, delegates on Saturday agreed at the United Nations conference on biodiversity to establish a subsidiary body that will include Indigenous peoples in future decisions on nature conservation, an important development that builds on a growing movement to recognize the role of Indigenous peoples in protecting land and helping combat climate change.

The delegates also agreed to oblige major corporations to share the financial benefits of research when using natural genetic resources.

Indigenous delegations erupted into cheers and tears after the historic decision to create the subsidiary body was announced. It recognizes and protects the traditional knowledge systems of Indigenous peoples and local communities for the benefit of global and national biodiversity management, said Sushil Raj, Executive Director of the Rights and Communities Global Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society.

“It strengthens representation, coordination, inclusive decision making, and creates a space for dialogue with parties to the COP,” Raj told The Associated Press, referring to the formal name of the gathering, Conference of Parties.

Negotiators had struggled to find common ground on some key issues in the final week but came to a consensus after talks went late into Friday.

The COP16 summit, hosted in Cali, Colombia, was a follow-up to the historic 2022 accord in Montreal, which included 23 measures to save Earth’s plant and animal life, including putting 30 percent of the planet and 30 percent of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030.

A measure to recognize the importance of the role of people of African descent in the protection of nature was also adopted in Cali.

The Indigenous body will be formed by two co-chairs elected by COP: one nominated by U.N. parties of the regional group, and the other nominated by representatives of Indigenous peoples and local communities, the AP saw in the final document.

At least one of the co-chairs will be selected from a developing country, taking into account gender balance, the document said.

“With this decision, the value of the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants and local communities is recognized, and a 26-year-old historical debt in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is settled,” Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s environment minister and COP16 president, posted on social media platform X shortly after the announcement.

[pier-carlo-universe]

COP16: La Finanza e la Biodiversità – L’Impegno Globale per il Futuro del Pianeta. A Cali, la COP16 riunisce 196 Paesi per fermare la perdita di biodiversità entro il 2030

Dal 21 ottobre al 1° novembre 2024, Cali, in Colombia, ospita la COP16, la Conferenza Internazionale sulla Biodiversità, con il tema “Fare Pace con la Natura”.

Dal 21 ottobre al 1° novembre 2024, Cali, in Colombia, ospita la COP16, la Conferenza Internazionale sulla Biodiversità, con il tema “Fare Pace con la Natura”. Questo vertice rappresenta un’opportunità per valutare i progressi del Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), adottato alla COP15, che mira a conservare il 30% delle aree terrestri e marine entro il 2030. Ad oggi, solo il 17,6% delle terre e…

[trendynewsnow]

Global Biodiversity Talks Conclude with Major Funding Agreement

Major Breakthrough in Global Biodiversity Talks Delegates from nearly 200 nations concluded two weeks of intense negotiations on Saturday, reaching a significant agreement aimed at bolstering global conservation efforts through a new funding mechanism. This initiative is designed to redirect a portion of the profits derived from nature’s genetic resources, specifically the wealth of information…

[todayworldnews2k21]

India needs Rs 81.6k crore per year up to 2029-30 to meet biodiversity goals | India News - Times of India

NEW DELHI: India committed to prioritise effective restoration of at least 30% of its degraded terrestrial, inland water, & coastal and marine areas by 2030 in sync with the country’s 23 national biodiversity targets as well as global 30×30 biodiversity goals, reports Vishwa Mohan. India said it would need an annual average amount of Rs 81,664 crore for implementation of its updated pledges up to…

[ugf-viridis]

[...] "So far, the majority of rich countries appear to be contributing less than half of their “fair share” of biodiversity finance, according to a report released ahead of the UN meeting."

[anthr--apology]

…who is pulling the blocks, now?

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from The Guardian:

Governments risk another decade of failure on biodiversity loss, due to the slow implementation of an international agreement to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems, experts have warned.

Less than two years ago, the world reached a historic agreement at the Cop15 summit in Montreal to stop the human-caused destruction of life on our planet. The deal included targets to protect 30% of the planet for nature by the end of the decade (30x30), reform $500bn (then £410bn) of environmentally damaging subsidies, and begin restoring 30% of the planet’s degraded ecosystems.

But as country representatives dig into their second week of negotiations at Cop16 in Cali, Colombia – their first meeting since Montreal – alarm is growing at the lack of concrete progress on any of the major targets they agreed upon. An increasing number of indicators show that governments are not on track. They still need to protect an area of land equivalent to the combined size of Brazil and Australia, and an expanse of sea larger than the Indian Ocean to meet the headline 30x30 target, according to a new UN report.

Weak progress on funding for nature and almost no progress on subsidy reform have also frustrated observers. At the time of publication, 158 countries are yet to submit formal plans on how they are going to meet the targets, according to Carbon Brief, missing their deadline this month ahead of the biodiversity summit in Cali, where governments are not likely to set a new deadline.

The world has never met a target to stem the destruction of wildlife and life-sustaining ecosystems. Amid growing scientific warnings about the state of life on Earth, there has been a major push to make sure this decade is different, and that governments comply with targets designed to prevent wildlife extinctions, such as cuts to pesticides use and pollution.

Leading figures in conservation and science have raised concerns about the progress governments are making towards the targets in Cali. Martin Harper, CEO of Birdlife International, said meaningful action on commitments was vital.

“We cannot accept inaction as the new normal. This means more action to bolster efforts to recover threatened species, to protect and restore more land, fresh water and sea, and to transform our food, energy and industrial systems. We have five years to raise hundreds of billions of dollars. If we don’t see it materialise, I dread to think where we will be in 2030,” he said

[thoughtlessarse]

Record numbers of business representatives and lobbyists had access to the UN’s latest biodiversity talks, analysis shows. In total 1,261 business and industry delegates registered for Cop16 in Cali, Colombia, which ended in disarray and without significant progress on a number of key issues including nature funding, monitoring biodiversity loss and work on reducing environmentally harmful business subsidies. The number is more than double the 613 present at the UN’s previous biodiversity conference in 2022. Overall, the number of attendees increased by 46%, making Cop16 the largest UN nature conference yet, although business and industry increased disproportionately. Industry groups working in pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, agrochemicals, food and beverage processing and tech all had more people registered to attend, according to the analysis by DeSmog. Some question the influence that these companies might have had on the outcomes of the summit negotiations. Sectors with the greatest increases included food and beverage processing (up 460%) and tech (up 333%). The presence of agrochemical, pesticide and seed companies increased by 40% and 24% respectively since Cop15. “We certainly saw a stronger lobbying push for policies that favour agricultural productivity, and that clashed with the conservation goals and the position of civil society,” said Oscar Soria, director of the Common Initiative thinktank. There was also a 25% increase in biotech representatives, who Soria said were “aggressive in pushing back on progress related to digital sequencing information (DSI)”. This was the voluntary agreement to make companies share profits from commercial discoveries derived from nature’s genetics. “Seems all of a sudden the private and business sector woke up and now they’re trying to defend their interests,” he said.

continue reading

[akaashmaharaj]

The End of COP 16

Well, that was exhausting: COP 16 has drawn to a close.

I only regret that my work as a member of Canada's state delegation left me too little time to support my Nature Canada colleagues, Ted Cheskey and Lillian Trapper. They represented us at civil society events with distinction.

Our negotiations ran late into the night. Physical exhaustion is an effective argument in driving diplomats to agreement.

We had victories on Indigenous representation and protection of genetic resources. We have work yet to do on the treaty's financial architecture.

I am looking forward to returning to the Ottawa Valley, and enjoying nature in its autumnal colours. I hope our work at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity means that many more generations will have that chance, too.

🌱 https://via.maharaj.org/cop16

[notwiselybuttoowell]

Governments risk another decade of failure on biodiversity loss, due to the slow implementation of an international agreement to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems, experts have warned.

Less than two years ago, the world reached a historic agreement at the Cop15 summit in Montreal to stop the human-caused destruction of life on our planet. The deal included targets to protect 30% of the planet for nature by the end of the decade (30x30), reform $500bn (then £410bn) of environmentally damaging subsidies, and begin restoring 30% of the planet’s degraded ecosystems.

But as country representatives dig into their second week of negotiations at Cop16 in Cali, Colombia – their first meeting since Montreal – alarm is growing at the lack of concrete progress on any of the major targets they agreed upon. An increasing number of indicators show that governments are not on track. They still need to protect an area of land equivalent to the combined size of Brazil and Australia, and an expanse of sea larger than the Indian Ocean to meet the headline 30x30 target, according to a new UN report.

Weak  progress on funding for nature and almost no progress on subsidy reform have also frustrated observers. At the time of publication, 158 countries are yet to submit formal plans on how they are going to meet the targets, according to Carbon Brief, missing their deadline this month ahead of the biodiversity summit in Cali, where governments are not likely to set a new deadline.

“Progress has been too slow. I think political prioritisation of nature is still too low. This is reflected by progress on the targets. Several target are very easy to measure: 30x30 has metrics on area and quality, finance has a dollar figure. We have new data on both that show we’re not on pace,” said Brian O’Donnell, director of the Campaign for Nature.

“This is a moment to demonstrate seriousness and build trust. On finance especially, it’s been disturbing at times to go to parties to ask for their path forward for finance and be treated as if we are asking for something new or unrealistic, as opposed to what they just agreed two years ago. To me, that is a reflection of not a true commitment to this,” he said.

The world has never met a target to stem the destruction of wildlife and life-sustaining ecosystems. Amid growing scientific warnings about the state of life on Earth, there has been a major push to make sure this decade is different, and that governments comply with targets designed to prevent wildlife extinctions, such as cuts to pesticides use and pollution.

Yadvinder Malhi, a professor of ecosystem science at the University of Oxford, said: “The very limited progress we’ve seen so far in the negotiations at Cop16 is insufficient to address the very real implications of getting this wrong. Biodiversity is continuing to decline at an alarming rate. I really hope that the crunch discussions this week yield those commitments, for the sake of a flourishing future for people and for our planet.”

[biodiversityday]

SBI-5: Plenary 6 at COP16 – United Nations Biodiversity Conference 2024.

Fifth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation: 6th Plenary (Agenda Item 2 (continued). Adoption of the recommendations; Item 3. Other matters. ; Item 4. Adoption of the report. Item 5. Closure of the meeting).

Watch the SBI-5: Plenary 6 at COP16 – United Nations Biodiversity Conference 2024!