The COP16 plenary concluded yesterday in Rome with a historic agreement on biodiversity protection financing. A mechanism was approved to mobilize US$200 billion annually for use in protecting nature and supporting the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The agreement comes after three days of discussion at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome. The UN talks were held with the sole purpose of finding a solution to the financing issues that were left unresolved following the conclusion of the COP16 in Cali, Colombia, in October last year.
As the meeting concluded late yesterday, participants stood up and applauded the outcome. The agreement is a major achievement for Colombia’s Minister of Environment and president of COP16, Susana Muhamad, who is stepping down from her government post.
COP16 ends with long-awaited agreement on biodiversity protection financing
Despite significant public and international participation, the COP16 in Cali last year ended without reaching consensus on how to finance the ambitious climate protection targets agreed upon during COP15, held in Montreal in 2022. The Cali meetings ended without a quorum as talks ran into overtime and not enough delegates remained to guarantee that any decisions made had the backing of all U.N. member states.
The event’s plenary session was therefore suspended to give the parties time to continue negotiating. It was finally resumed this week at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy. Despite the disagreements that characterized the first day, consensus was finally reached yesterday, Thursday, February 27, the last day of the meetings.
After intense negotiations, the Parties to the Convention agreed on a way forward in terms of resource mobilization with a view to closing the global biodiversity finance gap and achieving the initial economic target. Thanks to this agreement, US$200 billion will be allocated per year by 2030 to finance actions for biodiversity and nature protection.
Colombia launches new citizen participation initiative
During yesterday’s session, Muhamad also launched a new climate initiative called Caravan from Cali to Belem. This project seeks to develop spaces for citizen participation around the COP30 on climate change, which will be held in November in Belem do Para, Brazil, in a similar spirit to the People’s COP that took place alongside the main event last year in Cali.
“In Cali we said that the COP was not only going to pass through Cali, but that we were sowing seeds of change and following the mobilization,” Muhamad said. “This caravan will take us to the two most important environmental years in the history of Latin America. From Cali to Belem has four routes of mobilization and citizen participation.”
As part of the Caravan, four routes will trace the path towards implementation of Colombia’s Biodiversity Action Plan. This document outlines the country’s updated climate goals and preparations for the COP17 on Biodiversity and the COP30 on climate.
Success for Colombia’s Environment Minister
Muhamad, president of COP16 and Colombia’s Minister of Environment, showed evident joy when the financing arrangement was agreed. She received a long applause from delegates of the nearly 150 countries that attended the talks.
Rich and developing countries agreed on mutual commitments to adopt a five-year work plan aimed at unlocking the billions needed to halt the destruction of nature and better distribute the money to poor countries, overcoming the sharp divisions that had frustrated the meeting in October last year in Colombia.
“I announce that we have given arms, legs and muscle” to the Kunming-Montreal Agreement, Muhamad said. Under this Agreement, made in 2022, countries pledged to reach 23 targets to stop the destruction of nature by 2030.
The success for Muhamad comes as she steps down from her role as minister. Despite her disagreements with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, her ministry was one of the few who received praise during a chaotic televised Council of Ministers meeting three weeks ago.
Muhamad will be replaced by Lena Estrada, who will seek to continue Muhmad’s legacy in what is one of the most important portfolios in Petro’s government.