Starting this week, thousands of people will descend on Cali, Colombia for an important meeting you may not have heard of: COP16.
This event is a big deal.
Commonly known as the United Nations Biodiversity Summit, COP16 is a meeting of government officials from around the world – possibly including some heads of state – to figure out how to stop environmental decline. The COP, which stands for “Conference of the Parties,” brings together environmental leaders and officials from countries that are part of the Convention on Biological Diversity, a global agreement under the United Nations to conserve nature. They meet every other year to push forward a conservation agenda.
The last summit, known as COP15, was arguably much more important. During this event held in 2022, almost all the countries of the world agreed on one thing Breakthrough New Deal Halting biodiversity loss by 2030. The agreement has 23 goals, including conserving at least 30 percent of land and oceans and reducing annual subsidies that cost at least $500 billion in ecosystem damage. Experts hailed it as the Paris Agreement for Nature global agreement To combat climate change.
COP16, which runs from October 21 to November 1, won’t have the same glamorous outcome. Yet it is an important moment as countries assess their progress towards the 23 goals and hold each other accountable.
Spoiler: They’re out of the way.
A New reportFor example, it has been found that less than 3 percent of the ocean is effectively protected from harmful activities such as overfishing. Subsidies that are only harmful in nature balloon in recent yearsreached trillions of dollars. What is more that many countries have failed To meet deadlines for submitting plans for how they intend to achieve the objectives of the Nature Convention, known as the Global Biodiversity Framework, within their own borders.
Beyond serving as a formal check-in, COP16 focused on a few key issues. To understand the biggest parts of this discussion, we have compiled our report below
Inside the very messy, deeply confusing fight over who should profit from DNA
One of the main topics taking center stage in this month’s discussion is how to best manage DNA from plants and animals found in online databases. This genetic data, called digital sequence information or DSI, is used by companies to develop products such as vaccines and drought-tolerant crops.
We explain this thorny issue here.
There is a $700 billion hole in the global plan to save nature
In Cali, global leaders will discuss how to address a large funding gap and raise the funds needed for critical conservation. Discussions will focus on what roles the government and the private sector – companies and investors – have to play. Read our coverage on this topic here.
A new report reveals a “catastrophic” decline in animals worldwide – but is it accurate?
Another major part of this year’s summit will be discussions on how to monitor progress towards achieving the 23 goals in the global monitoring framework. This includes what data to use to test whether 30 percent of the world’s land is conserved.
Read Vox’s story about one index, the Living Planet Index.
Why the US won’t join the single most important treaty to protect nature
An important context to keep in mind is that although the United States helped negotiate the Convention on Biological Diversity — the treaty under which COP16 takes place — it is not a formal member of the treaty. In fact, the United States is the only country, other than the Vatican, that is not a party to the Convention.
I wrote about what that means here. Note that this story was published in 2021.
Reach! Next week I’ll be in Colombia following these major themes. If you have feedback or ideas for our coverage, Please get in touch.
