Susana Mohamad (C), Colombian Minister of the Environment and President of COP16, reported that “very good progress has been made” in the UN biodiversity consultations.
UN talks on how to “halt and reverse” species declines by 2030 have made “very good progress” as a summit in Colombia reaches the halfway point, officials said Friday.
The 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity opened on Monday in the city of Cali and will run until 1 November.
The organization, whose theme is “peace with nature,” has the urgent task of coming up with a monitoring and funding mechanism to meet the United Nations’ 23 conservation goals agreed to in Canada two years ago. There is.
COP16 President and Colombian Environment Minister Susana Mohamad said on Friday that “negotiations are progressing very well,” adding: “A lot of work has progressed this week.”
He told reporters in Cali that resource mobilization remains “one of the most difficult issues” because the political parties have vastly different views.
On Sunday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on the 196 signatories of the Convention on Biological Diversity to expand the Global Framework Fund for Biodiversity, created last year to “translate words into action” and achieve UN goals. asked to do so.
Countries have contributed about $250 million to the fund so far, according to the watchdog.
Under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, completed in 2022, countries will need to mobilize at least $200 billion a year for biodiversity by 2030, including supporting developing countries. This includes $20 billion a year from rich countries by 2025.
An important goal of the Cali COP is to agree on mechanisms to share the benefits of genetic information collected from plants and animals, for example for medical purposes, with their regions of origin.
Regarding the issue, Muhammad said, “Both parties are coming together towards a common vision.”
Approximately 23,000 delegates, including approximately 180 government ministers and seven heads of state, are recognized by the largest biodiversity COP in history.
Around one million known species around the world are estimated to be at risk of extinction, and the participants have been forced to stop working.
There are only five years left to reach the goal of having 30% of land and sea areas under protection by 2030.
“We are here today because we understand that biodiversity is being lost at an unsustainable rate,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program.
“The progress in Cali will give momentum to the process going forward,” she added.
© 2024 AFP
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