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The National
28-02-2025
- Politics
- The National
Countries seal critical $200 billion deal to save nature
Top environmental delegates worked late into the night on Thursday to seal critical negotiations and pave the way to secure $200 billion a year for biodiversity protection by 2030. The gavel came down with no objections at the extended UN Biodiversity talks in Rome, held at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation office. The room erupted in applause as the summit concluded, following stalled negotiations at Cop16 in Colombia, which failed to reach a resolution by the end of 2024. Experts say the progress comes at a critical time for environmental negotiations as global political uncertainty hangs over climate funding. "The US pulling funding internationally not only from environment initiatives but development funding more broadly, including the defunding and shutting down of USAID, is very unhelpful and certainly hinders progress on biodiversity and climate issues." Audrey Wagner, a researcher who led Oxford University's delegation to Cop16, told The National. However, those at the conference understood the urgency of the task at hand - to prevent further biodiversity loss at a time when it's estimated that one million of the world's species teeter on the brink of extinction. Speaking to the media in the early hours of Friday morning, Cop16 President Susana Muhamad, emphasised the importance of what she has called a historic moment for biodiversity, saying: "We are seeing so much political change globally, where actually fragmentation, and conflict is increasing." Ms Muhamad, who until recently held the post of minister of environment in Columbia, added that the gathering had "sent a light of hope, that still the common good, the environment, the protection of life and the capacity to come together for something bigger than each national interest is possible." Three years ago, 196 countries agreed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The framework includes the closing of the biodiversity finance gap, which stands at $700 billion per year. Among the 23 targets to be achieved by 2030 include 30 per cent conservation of land, sea and inland waters, 30 per cent restoration of degraded ecosystems, and halving the introduction of invasive species. This week, the Cop16 parties agreed on a way forward in terms of getting the funds mobilised with a view to close the global biodiversity finance gap to tackle the issue of biodiversity loss. Nature groups have applauded the Cop presidency for delivering a hard-fought resolution this week on biodiversity finance. Efraim Gomez, Global Policy Director at WWF International, has warned, however, that this necessary step is not sufficient, and it is now that the hard work starts. While his colleague Lin Li, senior director for Global Policy and Advocacy at WWF International, shared that "What's left now is still an urgent need to mobilise funding from all sources – public, private, domestic and philanthropic – to ensure we reach the $200 billion a year committed by 2030.' In a bid to accelerate these efforts, parties also called for an international dialogue between Environment and Finance Ministers from both developed and developing nations. Another notable achievement hailed as a success was the establishment of the Cali Fund, which was first agreed upon in Colombia during the first part of the conference. The fund is designed to harness critical financial resources from companies using digitally sequenced genetic data. While it has yet to receive contributions, the fund marks a significant victory for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, who are set to receive 50 per cent of its resources to support local biodiversity initiatives. Next on the UN climate agenda, is the UNFCCC Cop30, in Belem, Brazil. Taking place in November, this will be the first Cop to be held in the Amazon. Cop30 is the meeting of the conference of parties under the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Conference. It is tasked with supporting the global response to the threat of climate change. The UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) Cop17, will be held in Mongolia in 2026. The next Convention on Biological Diversity, Cop17, will be held in Armenia in 2026.
The Guardian
28-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Cop16 countries strike crucial deal on nature despite global tensions
Delegates from across the world have cheered a last-gasp deal to map out funding to protect nature, breaking a deadlock at UN talks seen as a test for international cooperation in the face of geopolitical tensions. Rich and developing countries on Thursday hammered out a delicate compromise on raising and delivering the billions of dollars needed to protect species, overcoming stark divisions that had scuttled their previous Cop16 meeting in Cali, Colombia last year. Scientists have long warned that action is urgent. A million of the world's species are threatened with extinction, while unsustainable farming and consumption destroy forests, deplete soils and spread plastic pollution to even the most remote areas of the planet. Delegates stood and clapped in an emotionally charged final meeting that saw the key decisions adopted in the final minutes of the last day of rebooted negotiations at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization headquarters in Rome. 'The applause is for all of you. You have done an amazing job,' said the Cop16 president, Susana Muhamad of Colombia. Posting online afterwards, she called it a 'historic day', adding: 'We achieved the adoption of the first global plan to finance the conservation of life on Earth.' The decision comes more than two years after a landmark deal to slow the rampant destruction of nature this decade and protect at least 30% of the world's land and seas. That would protect ecosystems and wildlife that humans rely on for food, climate regulation and economic prosperity. The Cop16 agreement on Thursday is seen as crucial to giving impetus to that deal. The talks were also seen as a bellwether for international cooperation more generally. The meeting comes as countries face a range of challenges, from trade disputes and debt worries to the slashing of overseas aid – particularly by the Trump administration. Washington, which has not signed up to the UN's convention on biological diversity, did not send representatives to the meeting. 'Our efforts show that multilateralism can present hope at a time of geopolitical uncertainty,' said Steven Guilbeault, Canada's minister of environment and climate change. The failure to finalise an agreement in Cali was the first in a string of disappointing outcomes at environmental summits last year. A climate finance deal at Cop29 in Azerbaijan in November was slammed by developing countries as woefully insufficient, while separate negotiations about desertification and plastic pollution stalled in December. Muhamad, who has resigned as Colombia's environment minister but stayed on to serve until after the Rome conference, said members of her team were brought to tears by the last-minute agreement. Thursday saw intense closed-door talks based on a 'compromise attempt' text that Brazil put forward on behalf of the BRICS country bloc that includes Russia, China and India. Brazil's negotiator Maria Angelica Ikeda told AFP earlier that financing had been a flashpoint long before the current international tensions, adding that the BRICS proposal sought to be 'very sensitive' to a broad spectrum of views. Countries had already agreed to deliver $200bn a year in finance for nature by 2030, including $30bn a year from wealthier countries to poorer ones. The total for 2022 was about $15bn, according to the OECD. Thursday's decision sets out two main strands of action in the coming years – finding the extra billions of dollars in funding for biodiversity and deciding on the institutions that will deliver the money. Georgina Chandler, head of policy and campaigns at the Zoological Society of London, said the finance roadmap was a 'key milestone', but stressed that money is needed urgently. 'With only five years left to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, securing the necessary funds to accomplish this mission is more essential than ever,' she said. Other decisions sought to bolster monitoring to ensure countries are held accountable for their progress towards meeting biodiversity targets.
The Guardian
24-02-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
More than half of countries are ignoring biodiversity pledges
More than half the world's countries have no plans to protect 30% of land and sea for nature, despite committing to a global agreement to do so less than three years ago, new analysis shows. In late 2022, nearly every country signed a once-in-a-decade UN deal to halt the destruction of Earth's ecosystems. It included a headline target to protect nearly a third of the planet for biodiversity by the end of the decade – a goal known as '30 by 30'. But as country leaders gather in Rome to conclude Cop16 negotiations to save nature, analysis of countries' plans by Carbon Brief and the Guardian found that many countries are will fall short. More than half are either pledging to protect less than 30% of their territory or are not setting a numerical target. Every two years, representatives from around the world meet to discuss UN targets to halt nature loss by 2030. The gathering is formally known as the conference of the parties of the UN convention on biological diversity – shortened in this case to Cop16, as it is the 16th meeting. The last gathering was in Cali, Colombia, last November, but the meeting ended in chaos with key issues left unresolved. From 25 to 27 February in Rome, parties will gather for an additional meeting to finish those negotiations, and tackle the most divisive issue: money. The main topics being discussed include who will pay for conservation and how to distribute the money. Delegates are also set to agree on a monitoring framework, so countries can be held to account on their progress on meeting the biodiversity targets for this decade. Of the 137 who have submitted a plan, 70 (51%) countries do not include proposals for protecting 30% of their land and sea, and 10 do not make it clear whether or not they will do so. Another 61 countries are yet to submit any plan on meeting the targets. While the UN target is global, the size of the countries omitting the goal from their plans could put it in jeopardy. Together, they represent 34% of the Earth and include mega-diverse countries with large concentrations of nature such as Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa and Venezuela. Scientists say that protection must focus on the parts of the planet with the most biodiversity for the 30% benchmark to be effective at slowing the loss of nature. Finland, a sparsely populated country with a large timber industry, said it was still in the process of finalising its targets, but said achieving 30 by 30 would be extremely challenging. 'To reach this target, for example, the protected area in land areas would have to increase by about over 700,000 hectares [1.7m acres] a year,' a spokesperson said. Indonesia, one of the three major rainforest countries on Earth, did not submit a percentage target. A government spokesperson said it viewed the target as a global aim that should not put an 'unnecessarily heavy burden' on countries. 'Managing biodiversity is not an easy task, the balance of economic, social and environmental aspects must be maintained, particularly for developing countries like Indonesia,' they said. Norway, a country with large fishing, oil and gas industries, has not included marine areas in its 30% target. It said it was still working out which marine areas would count as protected under current UN definitions and would clarify their conservation status once the process was over. The findings add to growing fears of another decade of international failure on nature. Governments have never met a single target in the history of UN biodiversity agreements, and there had been a major push to make sure this decade was different. At Cop16 in Cali last year, talks ended in disarray and confusion after the summit ran out of time to agree significant elements of the implementation of this decade's agreement, and an additional meeting has had to be convened in Rome this week. Brian O'Donnell, director of the Campaign for Nature, said it was clear that countries were not on track to meet the global 30% commitment, adding that the lack of ambition was linked to a lack of finance from wealthy nations to help others meet the targets, and lack of engagement from world leaders. 'Let's be clear, this is not a 'nice to have' target – it is an essential if we are to prevent tens of thousands of species' extinctions, and maintain the services that intact nature provides like pollination, water and air filtration, storm defence and pandemic prevention,' he said. Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said that monitoring figures on protected areas showed that progress was happening, with 17.6% of land and 8.4% of the ocean under some form of protection. But she said much more was needed. '30x30 is a global target and how countries take that on board at the national level will be different across the world depending on national circumstances. Targets need to help drive action but cannot undermine other conservation efforts or be seen in isolation,' she said. 'Without protecting nature, we simply cannot deliver our climate and development goals.' Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield in the Guardian app for more nature coverage
