Earth Science News
FLORA AND FAUNA
UN talks on saving nature stumble on finance hurdle
UN talks on saving nature stumble on finance hurdle
By Mari�tte le Roux and Benjamin Legendre
Cali, Colombia (AFP) Nov 2, 2024

The world's biggest nature conservation conference closed in Colombia on Saturday with no agreement on a roadmap to ramp up funding for species protection.

With other successes under its belt, the 16th Conference of Parties (COP16) to the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was suspended by its president Susana Muhamad as negotiations ran almost 12 hours longer than planned and delegates started leaving to catch flights.

The exodus left the summit without a quorum for decision-making, but CBD spokesman David Ainsworth told AFP it will resume at a later date to consider outstanding issues.

"We will continue working because this crisis is too big and we cannot stop," Muhamad told AFP after declaring the Cali COP closed.

The conference, the biggest meeting of its kind yet with around 23,000 registered delegates, was tasked with assessing, and ramping up, progress toward reaching 23 targets set in Canada two years ago to halt humankind's rapacious destruction of nature's bounty by 2030.

They include placing 30 percent of land and sea areas under protection and 30 percent of degraded ecosystems under restoration by 2030, reducing pollution, and phasing out agricultural and other subsidies harmful to nature.

For this purpose, it was agreed in 2022 that $200 billion per year be made available to protect biodiversity by 2030, including the transfer of $30 billion per year from rich to poor nations.

The total for 2022 was about $15 billion, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

On top of that, nations have pledged about $400 million to a Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) created last year to meet the UN targets.

In Cali, negotiators were split largely between poor and rich country blocs as they haggled over increased funding and other commitments.

The biggest ask from the summit -- to lay out a detailed funding plan -- turned out to be a bridge too far.

Muhamad, Colombia's environment minister, had offered a draft text proposing the creation of a dedicated biodiversity fund, which was rejected by the European Union, Switzerland and Japan.

Developing nations had insisted on the creation of a new fund, saying they are not adequately represented in existing mechanisms including the GBFF, which they say are also too onerous.

The lack of agreement is "a negative signal that will have repercussions on the other environmental negotiations at the end of the year because it reveals a deep disagreement on the technical possibility of making transfers between the Global North and South," said Sebastien Treyer, of the French think tank Iddri.

- A few successes -

The meeting did manage to coalesce around the creation of a fund to share the profits of digitally sequenced genetic data taken from plants and animals with the communities they come from.

Such data, much of it from species found in poor countries, is notably used in medicines and cosmetics that can make their developers billions, very little of which ever trickles back down.

The Cali agreement determines that genetic data users whose income exceeds a certain threshold should contribute one percent of profits or 0.1 percent of revenue to the new fund, potentially worth billions of dollars per year.

Delegates also approved the creation of a permanent body to represent the interests of Indigenous people under the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity.

Representatives of Indigenous peoples, many in traditional dress and headgear, broke out in cheers and chants as the agreement was gaveled through.

But the talks on biodiversity funding stumbled even as new research presented to coincide with COP16 showed that more than a quarter of assessed plants and animals are now at risk of extinction.

Only 17.6 percent of land and inland waters, and 8.4 percent of the ocean and coastal areas, are estimated to be protected and conserved.

Observers welcomed the summit's advances on Indigenous representation and gene profit sharing, but lamented the funding deadlock.

"Governments in Cali put forward plans to protect nature but were unable to mobilize the money to actually do it," said An Lambrechts, the head of Greenpeace's COP16 delegation.

"Biodiversity finance remains stalled after a deafening absence of credible finance pledges from wealthy governments and unprecedented corporate lobbying."

The meeting was held amid a massive security deployment following threats from a Colombian guerrilla group with its base of operations near Cali. No incidents were reported.

Related Links
Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
FLORA AND FAUNA
UN nature summit agrees on Indigenous representation; talks run into extra time
Cali, Colombia (AFP) Nov 2, 2024
The world's biggest nature protection conference agreed in Cali, Colombia on Friday to create a permanent body to represent the interests of Indigenous people under the UN's biodiversity convention. Representatives of Indigenous peoples, many in traditional dress and headgear, broke out in cheers and chants as 196 countries agreed on a "subsidiary body" dedicated to "matters of relevance to Indigenous peoples and local communities." It was the first major breakthrough for the 16th Conference of ... read more

FLORA AND FAUNA
Over 20 hospitalised after fire in southwest China

Spain sends thousands more troops to flood zone

Crowds hurl mud at Spanish king on visit to flood disaster town

Senegal navy intercepts nearly 600 migrants in 10 days

FLORA AND FAUNA
Laser measurements aid in tracking space debris and mapping Earth's water resources

To tackle plastic scourge, Philippines makes companies pay

New doubt over production cuts in plastic pollution treaty

Amazon results beat expectations, powered by cloud

FLORA AND FAUNA
Experts Warn of Potential Ocean Epidemic Risk from Migrating Species

No 'island of garbage' here, Puerto Rico's new marine reserve

Thousands take to London streets demanding cleaner water

FAU receives DOE grant to explore offshore ocean current energy near Palm Beach

FLORA AND FAUNA
Austria's Alpine refuges and trails crumble as climate warms

Large volumes of meltwater found within Greenland Ice Sheet during summer

NASA helps find thawing permafrost adds to near-term global warming

Slowing ocean currents may slightly ease Arctic warming

FLORA AND FAUNA
Making agriculture more resilient to climate change

Surf and Turf: Oregon State researchers to study feeding seaweed to cattle

Czech Republic curbs animal movement over bluetongue spread

Lebanon's wine region wrestles with war

FLORA AND FAUNA
Taiwan cleans up after Typhoon Kong-rey leaves two dead

Spanish royals to visit flood-hit region as fresh downpours loom

Japan urges 200,000 people to evacuate due to heavy rain

Indonesia volcano eruption kills 10, sets houses aflame

FLORA AND FAUNA
UK FM Lammy vows 'new approach' ahead of Africa trip

Chad denies anti-jihadist operation hit civilians

Guinea junta chief promotes self to army general

New pro-army militia announces deployment in east Sudan

FLORA AND FAUNA
Gentrification Fuels Alienation Among East Asian Urban Residents, Study Finds

Colombia's Awa people resist violence, maintain 'spiritual bond' with nature

A SMART method to enhance effectiveness of cartilage repair therapy

Artificial intelligence forms external cognitive system, reshaping human thought processes

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.