The final negotiations were inconclusive in Cali, Colombia, on the night of 2 November, at the close of COP16 on biodiversity. The 196 stakeholders have not reached agreement on the follow-up framework to be adopted to implement the Kunming-Montreal commitments by 2030, nor on the financial aspects. These were the two main issues at COP16.
Several European Ministers responsible for Climate Action and the Environment deplored the absence of an agreement. “Nobody can be satisfied with this result”, said the Austrian Minister, Léonore Gewessler, on the X social network. For her part, the French Minister, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, left Cali “concerned”. Both welcomed the progress made, but regretted the absence of an official decision, as COP16 had been suspended for lack of a quorum. According to the European Commission, “the COP did not have enough time to complete discussions on the biodiversity funding gap”.
The Cali Fund has been created. With this fund, companies that develop new medicines, for example, using the sequencing of genetic resources derived from biodiversity will have to share part of their revenue with the countries of origin of this biodiversity. This mechanism “ensures that companies that profit from nature make a fair contribution to the conservation of biodiversity”, said Kirsten Schuijt, Director General of WWF International. Half of the fund will be allocated to indigenous and local communities. According to the WWF, this decision has the advantage of “allowing these communities, particularly women and young people, to finally share in the benefits”. The payment terms have not yet been finalised.
The EU has pledged to double its external funding for biodiversity. According to Bernadette Fischler Hooper, Head of International Advocacy at WWF-UK, “The discord between donor countries and developing countries shortly before the meeting was suspended is unfortunately not surprising”. However, the absence of an agreement risks penalising the “realisation of the 2030 objectives in terms of nature protection”, she deplored. The Global Biodiversity Fund currently stands at “$407 million”, notes the WWF, while $200 billion a year is expected by 2030.
For its part, the EU has confirmed that it will double its external funding for biodiversity to €7 billion. This commitment involves a series of new initiatives. €69 million will be dedicated, for example, to building capacity and knowledge in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, so that partner countries can mobilise more funding. In addition, €48 million will fund a new EU programme on illegal wildlife trafficking and €40 million will support EU partner countries “in their efforts to conserve and sustainably manage biodiversity in the high seas”. Like the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits, the EU supports the creation of biodiversity certification and nature credits (see EUROPE 13515/14).
The plenary session “will resume at a date and venue to be determined at a later date, in order to complete the agenda”, said the Convention on Biological Biodiversity. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)