https://www.cbd.int/article/high-level-consultations-2024
On 21 August 2024 in Montreal, the city in which COP 15 delivered the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), Astrid Schomaker, the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and David Cooper, Deputy Executive Secretary, hosted consultations between the Honorable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada, and H.E. Susana Muhamad, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia, on making COP 16 (21 October-2 November 2024, Cali, Colombia) the global biodiversity summit where agreement turns into action.
In a joint press conference held in the office of the Secretariat of the CBD, the Ministers outlined their perspectives on how “peace with nature”—the theme that Colombia crafted for COP 16— can be achieved and called on the Parties to the Convention to accelerate the implementation of the KMGBF—the world’s masterplan to halt and reverse biodiversity loss through 23 targets that must be achieved by 2030.
“The message that the Honorable Steven Guilbeault and H.E. Susana Muhamad sent from Montreal two months ahead of COP 16 is clear: we need accelerated action, momentum to implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and transformative whole-of-society steps to make peace with nature,” said the Executive Secretary of the CBD.
Here are a few takeaways from the press conference and the panel discussion (organized by the Embassy of Colombia to Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada) on which the two Ministers spoke on the evening of 21 August:
- “Peace with Nature” is a powerful call to action. It chimes with the UN Secretary-General’s call to make peace with nature, which he described in a landmark address in December 2020 as the “defining Task of the 21st century”.
- The KMGBF is a blueprint for peace with nature as illustrated by its four goals: protect and restore nature; prosper with nature; share benefits fairly; and invest and collaborate for nature.
- COP 15 charted a timeline for the Parties to align their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) with it. Decision 15/6 of COP 15 requests that Parties submit national targets, either as part of their NBSAP submission or as a standalone submission, by COP16.
- As of 21 August, 61 Parties have submitted national targets, including 22 from Africa. While most countries are focusing on the submission of national targets, 16 Parties have already submitted NBSAPs aligned with the global aims of the KMGBF: Burkina Faso, Malaysia, Suriname, Italy, Canada, Uganda, Austria, Ireland, China, the European Union, France, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg and Spain (listed in chronological order of submission, starting with the most recent).
- At COP 16 Parties will also seek agreement on the operationalization of the multilateral mechanism for the sharing of benefits from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources, including a global fund, on the basis of the text that was agreed on 16 August 2024 in Montreal.
- Crucial to ensuring implementation of the KMGBF, COP 16 will advance negotiations on the mobilization of financial resources. Resources provided by developed countries to developing countries must reach $20 billion per year by 2025 and $30 billion per year by 2030. Countries are expected to align both public and private finance.
- The international financial system created almost 80 years ago needs to be reformed to respond to the unprecedented challenges created by the environmental crises afflicting the planet. An adequate global financial architecture is needed alongside knowledge, technology and innovation to bring about the required social, political and economic transformation.
- Climate change and Biodiversity must be tackled as “two sides of the same coin”. Synergy among Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) is essential to addressing the intertwined environmental crises that the world is facing.
- The COP 16 agenda also includes initiatives that are expected to further enhance the role of indigenous peoples and local communities as custodians of biodiversity and holders of invaluable traditional knowledge.
- COP 16 will be a “COP for the People”. It will see the largest public Green Zone ever held at a COP of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The admirable efforts of Colombia to ensure the widest possible participation in COP 16 are consistent with the fact that the KMGBF can only be delivered through a whole-of-society endeavor.
