COP16 Ends Without Consensus on Financing for Nature Conservation

The COP16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, ended in disappointment this weekend, with countries failing to determine how to raise $200 billion a year in funding for conservation by 2030, reported Reuters.

Originally intended as a check-in on countries’ progress with meeting the goals of the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), COP16 went into overtime Saturday as nations scrambled to reach a consensus while delegates dwindled along with hopes for a decisive conclusion.

“I am both saddened and enraged by the non-outcome of COP16,” said Shilps Gautam, carbon removal financing firm Opna’s chief executive, as Reuters reported. “The wild thing about the nature financing discussions is that the numbers discussed are already a pittance.”

Rich countries seemed to hit a wall when it came to global nature conservation funding, with discussions shifting toward talks of bridging the gap with private money.

The funds are intended to finance actions that promote and support nature, such as sustainable agriculture and ensuring wildlife reserves are thriving.

Human activities like urban development, agriculture and mining are increasingly destroying nature’s balance and pushing our planet to its limits. As the burning of fossil fuels causes the planet to warm at an unprecedented rate, weather patterns and the world’s water cycle become steadily more unbalanced, leading to catastrophic extreme weather events, drought and wildfires.

The two-week biodiversity summit was scheduled to wrap up on Friday, but by roll call Saturday, there were no longer enough delegates present for the quorum required to pass an agreement. The conference ended with suspension of the meeting and an air of unfinished business.

“This COP was meant to be a status check on countries’ progress toward saving nature, and all indicators on that status are blinking red,” said Crystal Davis, global director of the food, land and water program at the World Resources Institute, as reported by Euronews. “The primary concern is that countries are not on track to protect 30 per cent of the world’s land and water by 2030. Without conserving the most critical ecosystems, the consequences for all countries will be immense.”

COP16 did have some successes, including a worldwide tax on companies that profit from genetic data derived from nature, as well as the establishment of a representative body for Indigenous Peoples at the conference.

“The outcome of COP16 represents a mixed bag. We saw real progress on important issues like benefit sharing related to digital sequence information, health and biodiversity, mainstreaming biodiversity into infrastructure and other sectors, and enabling the increased participation of Indigenous peoples and local communities. But the lack of progress on finance will hold back efforts to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030,” said Ginette Hemley, WWF-US’ senior vice president for wildlife, in a press release from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The non-consensus on how to fund the essential goals of the GBF leaves Earth’s biodiversity hanging in the balance.

“[W]e’re now veering dangerously off track,” said Kirsten Schuijt, director general of WWF International, as Euronews reported. “This outcome jeopardises the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Nobody should be okay with this – because it will impact us all.”

At COP16, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called upon nations to make substantial new contributions to the GBF Fund, but the response was lackluster, reported Reuters. Countries pledged $163 million to the fund during the conference, bringing the total to approximately $400 million — far short of the goal of $30 billion by 2030.

“Despite the hard-won breakthrough on creating a fund for profits from nature’s genetic information and ongoing rhetoric about the urgency of scaling up finance for nature, there has not been significant headway made on how we will finance nature recovery, nor clarity on how we monitor progress at a global level. Two years on, the vast majority of nature targets agreed in Montreal regrettably currently still feel like unfunded words on paper,” said Catherine Weller, Fauna & Flora director of global policy, as The Guardian reported.

Countries will meet next week at the United Nations COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan, which will also focus on funding — in that case, rich countries contributing funds to help poorer nations cope with the financial costs of the climate crisis.