Three EfD Colombia researchers participated in events at COP 16 to present research, participate in discussions, attend high-level events, and participate in a PhD student workshop. They found the conference covered urgent topics, and they had the opportunity to meet with important stakeholders, but they also felt that important goals were not achieved.
The 16th meeting of the COP (Conference of the Parties under the Convention of Biological Biodiversity of the United Nations) took place last October in Cali, the third largest city in Colombia. The meeting aimed at defining the implementation of the Kunming – Montreal framework’s ambitious goals and 23 targets for 2030, including protecting 30% of the world’s land and seas by 2030. Three EfD Colombia researchers, Juan Camilo Cárdenas, Jorge Maldonado, and Brigitte Castañeda participated in this large event.
Besides the negotiations of representatives from the 16 countries, there were parallel events where different stakeholders discussed biodiversity challenges.
Researchers dialogue with stakeholders
Juan Camilo Cárdenas promoted dialogues to integrate indigenous and scientific knowledge in conservation policies to protect communities and ecosystems. He participated in the event Biodiversity for the Common Good: voices from local indigenous people, where he highlighted the importance of traditional knowledge on biodiversity conservation. He also led discussions on defining planetary limits that are fair and safe for achieving sustainable development that leaves no one behind.
Attended government talks
Jorge Maldonado was admitted to the blue zone to attend the negotiations of the COP, an opportunity that representatives from universities got as observers of the government talks. He also participated in events with institutions such as the Bank for the Development of Latin America and the Caribbean (In Spanish CAF) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
He presented a study on deforestation in the Colombian Amazon at the CAF event, where the institution presented its annual activity reports on biodiversity and climate change. CAF has the goal to become the green bank of Latin America and engages in biodiversity conservation and climate change.
He also participated in an event with UICN where this institution delivered its prize of including three Colombian national parks in its green list of protected areas. Jorge has been working with UICN and WWF to evaluate these parks for inclusion in the green list.
Some positive outcomes
According to Juan Camilo Cárdenas, the most important result of COP 16 was the launch of the Cali Fund, which will receive financial resources from private firms that use digital genetics from biodiversity resources. Pharmaceutics and biotechnology firms that use genetic information from biodiversity must provide 1% of their profits or 0,1% of their incomes to the Cali fund. Then, the money can be used for conservation programs in territories with indigenous people.
For him, it was also “remarkable to see the great social mobilization and the citizens’ participation around the conference”.
Jorge Maldonado thinks that the most important of the COP was that “it made visible the link between biodiversity and culture. Ordinary people who live in and depend on biodiversity know its conditions, which is very valuable knowledge for conservation strategies”.
The conference failed to meet goals
According to Jorge Maldonado, there should have been more pressure on finding more financial resources for the national biodiversity plans. In his opinion, there are not enough financial resources to protect biodiversity.
Juan Camilo Cárdenas feels that the goal of collecting 200 million USD per year to protect biodiversity will be difficult to achieve. The rich countries are more willing to allocate funds to climate disasters in their territories than to preserve biodiversity. In his opinion, there was also no progress in regulating the 18th goal of the Kunming-Montreal agreement on the agricultural subsidies that harm nature.
Capacity workshop for PhD students
The Young Scholar Initiative at the Institute for New Economic Thinking organized a workshop on Challenges for implementing financial strategies for climate and biodiversity. The workshop was for PhD students in Colombia as a side event of the COP meeting. Brigitte Castañeda, PhD student and member of EfD Colombia, participated in this workshop, where she discussed the intersection between carbon markets and energy transition. In her presentation, she stated that the energy transition requires considering the local context, which includes the local communities that can be affected by the closure of mining or oil exploitation fields. In those communities’ educational institutions are key for facilitating the transition of mining and oil workers to another sector.
References:
News article (In Spanish) “COP16: navegando entre frustraciones y optimismo” by Juan Camilo Cárdenas published on El Espectador, on November 12th, 2024: https://www.elespectador.com/ambiente/ruta-a-la-cop16/cop16-navegando-entre-frustraciones-y-optimismo/
By: Manuela Fonseca