The world’s pledges to halt humankind’s destruction of nature will be put to the test when the 16th UN conference on biodiversity opens Monday in Colombia.
The world’s pledges to halt humankind’s destruction of nature will be put to the test when the 16th UN conference on biodiversity opens Monday in Colombia.
The COP16, held in the city of Cali through November 1, is the first meeting of the international community since the adoption two years ago of an unprecedented roadmap to achieve that goal.
But putting that agreement into practice risks not moving fast enough to stop the destruction of land, oceans and species by a 2030 target date.
How will COP16 ensure countries achieve the 23 targets of the « Global Biodiversity Framework »? Can it unlock the billions of dollars needed? Can it guarantee the rights of Indigenous peoples?
Here’s a summary of what’s at stake:
Creating protected areas, restoring depleted land, cutting the use of pesticides, increasing funding for nature—few of the targets humanity had previously set for 2020 have been reached.
To avoid repeating that failure, countries agreed at COP15 to create a monitoring mechanism, with common indicators to measure progress, and a possible review procedure.
But the details of this mechanism, crucial for holding countries to account, remain to be adopted.
Carrying out this negotiation will be the top agenda item of COP16 and its host Colombia, which wants to establish itself as a leader in the global fight to safeguard nature.
