CALI, Columbia, Nov 03 (IPS) – The curtains fell on the sixteenth Convention of the Events of UN Biodiversity (COP16) on Sunday with none formal closing. In a voice message, David Ainsworth, the Communications Director of the UNCBD, confirmed that the COP was suspended as a consequence of a scarcity of quorum within the plenary and can be resumed someday later. Nonetheless, earlier than being suspended, the events managed to undertake a historic choice to open the door for Indigenous Peoples (IPS) and native communities (LCs) to affect the worldwide plan to halt the destruction of biodiversity.
A Watershed Second for IPLC
On Saturday night time, after hours of last-minute negotiations at a number of closed-door conferences amongst events, COP negotiators agreed to create a everlasting subsidiary physique underneath Article 8j of the Kunming-Montreal World Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) that may permit indigenous and native communities (IPLCs) direct participation within the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal World Biodiversity Framework. As reported by IPS beforehand, article 8j had been the topic of some of the intense negotiations within the COP, with 1000’s of indigenous activists demanding it whereas additionally drawing opposition from a number of nations, together with Indonesia and Russia.
Nonetheless, after a number of rounds of conferences facilitated by the COP16 host Colombia, the warring nations had been lastly dropped at a consensus and the proposal to determine a everlasting subsidiary physique within the CBP on IPLCs was lastly adopted unanimously. Additionally, for the primary time within the historical past of the CBD COP, indigenous peoples of African descent in Colombia had been acknowledged for his or her function in biodiversity conservation, paving the best way for them to take part in all processes associated to IPLCs underneath COP and KMGBF.
“It is a watershed second within the historical past of multilateral environmental agreements,” mentioned Jennifer Corpuz, chief of the Worldwide Indigenous Discussion board on Biodiversity (IIFB), an umbrella group of Indigenous Peoples and native communities from 7 international areas organized across the Conference on Organic Variety (CBD) to coordinate indigenous methods on biodiversity.
Corpuz, who had spearheaded the IIFB negotiations on 8J all by the COP, additional mentioned that institution of the Everlasting Subsidiary Physique on Article 8(j) wouldn’t solely allow robust partnerships between governments, Indigenous Peoples and native communities and funders but additionally present a high-level platform to additional spotlight the contributions of IPs and LCs to safety of the planet and share learnings.
At present, the IPLC-related discussions are held underneath an open-ended Working Group. The choices of this group will not be binding and there’s no mandate on how typically this group ought to meet. Nonetheless, after the subsidiary physique’s creation, this working group is now not wanted and could be disbanded. Corpuz revealed that Colombia is most definitely to be the host of the primary subsidiary physique assembly, anticipated to happen in a few 12 months from now—round October or November 2025.
Hopes Raised by a New DSI Fund
Settlement on a brand new, multilateral framework on Digital Sequencing Data (DSI) was additionally reached at COP16 on Saturday.
The framework—to be generally known as the CaliFund—will channel funding and handle how the advantages derived from the usage of genetic knowledge, significantly in pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agricultural corporations, must be shared with the nations, indigenous communities and stakeholders that present these assets. The adopted textual content on this contains robust language equivalent to corporations ought to pay moderately than being inspired to and specifies that fifty % of the cash coming to the DSI fund can be immediately going to Indigenous Peoples and native communities.
Nonetheless, no selections had been taken on the precise proportion of the income that the businesses must pay and who can be the opposite stakeholders eligible to entry the fund.
Nationwide Biodiversity Motion Plans
In a pre-COP interview to IPS, Astrid Schomaker, Government Secretary of the UNCBD, mentioned that every one events had been anticipated to submit their revised Nationwide Biodiversity Technique and Motion Plan (NBSAP) at COP16. Nonetheless, on the ultimate day of the COP, solely 44 nations had submitted their NBSAPs. The lengthy record of nations that didn’t submit contains the UK and Brazil.
On the launch occasion of their NBSAP, Indian Minister of State for Atmosphere, Kirti Vardhan Singh, mentioned that India was prepared to assist others, particularly the neighboring nations, to develop and submit their very own NBSAPs.
“We do imagine in neighbors first coverage and the coverage of ‘one earth, one household’ and are at all times able to share our experience with the neighbors; nonetheless, the request should come from their aspect, Singh informed IPS.
Gender: A Free Device to Measure Progress
Gender mainstreaming—the main focus of KMGBF’s Article 23 was not on the primary agenda of COP16, and events didn’t have a mandate to debate their plans on implementing it.
Nonetheless, Women4Biodiversity—the group that represents all NGOs engaged on biodiversity and ladies—introduced on October 31 that they’d co-developed with UNEP-WCMC an indicator for the nations to undertake and use to implement goal 23 of the KMGBF.
Explaining additional, Mrinalini Rai, head of Women4Biodiversity, mentioned that the indicator features a questionnaire with a number of selection solutions. Questions are organized underneath the three anticipated outcomes from the Gender Plan of Motion and the wording intently corresponds to the indicative actions within the Gender Plan of Motion. Every reply falls underneath a class representing the extent of progress. Solutions are then aggregated and summarized as a quantitative measure (index) to supply a measure of progress over time
All nations that signed the KMGBF need to report on the progress of its implementation in 2026, when the Biodiversity World Stocktake will happen. The indicator might particularly assist Events to organize for that reporting since it’s developed to trace and report on their actions in direction of guaranteeing the gender-responsive implementation of the KMGB.
“We’ve taken a very long time and invested lots of efforts to co-develop this system. We even have held intensive consultations with a number of nations and 19 of them held a check run of the indicator. They then shared their suggestions, and we revised the indicator primarily based on that. So, it is a tried and examined software that any nation can use,” Rai mentioned.
Finance and Monitoring and a Suspended COP
Whereas a few new monetary contributions had been pledged to the World Biodiversity Framework Fund through the COP, USD 51.7 million by non-public donors and USD 163 million by 12 donor nations, the goal of elevating USD 20 billion by a 12 months remained a purpose as distant as ever.
On Saturday night time, there was a transparent divide between the growing and the developed nations, primarily the European Union. The growing nations demanded that the COP undertake a plan for assembly the USD 20 billion by 2025 and maintain donors to account. They argued that this was essential for them, as the vast majority of the nations within the international south couldn’t begin implementing their biodiversity motion plans with out cash. Nonetheless, this was vehemently opposed by EU delegates who didn’t need the official doc to incorporate any language associated to accountability.
The north-south divide additionally turned distinguished when African nations complained that their issues and voices had been being sidelined on the essential difficulty of the monitoring framework.
Talking on behalf of the African Union, the delegate from Namibia alleged that the COP had did not seek the advice of African events in growing indicators for implementation of the KMGBF: “We want to put it on file that all through the contact teams and past, we now have signaled our willingness to interact in discussions and discover convergence; nonetheless, Africa was not knowledgeable nor invited to the dialogue on a compromise that was offered within the CG however that by no means thought-about the African group’s place with its 55 nations.”
As each teams refused to maneuver from their positions and a few events additionally spoke with out following the process of the UN course of, the COP presidency lastly introduced that the convention was being suspended for now.
Melissa Wright, of Bloomberg Philanthropies, which had beforehand pledged to donate USD 20 million to preserve marine biodiversity, mentioned the impasse was “deeply regarding.”
“It’s deeply regarding that consensus was not reached on key points, together with finance. The clock is ticking.”
Nonetheless, Susana Muhamad, the president of COP16, referred to as the convention a hit.
“COP16 has been a transformative occasion,” mentioned Muhamad whereas admitting that disagreements on the monetary technique and the monitoring framework remained a future problem. “
This leaves some challenges for the Conference, and it’s time to begin addressing them, however the dialogue there was at all times very polarized and continued to be so,” she mentioned.
COP17: Armenia Wins
On October 31, delegates voted for Armenia to host the subsequent biodiversity COP (COP17). Armenia and Azerbaijan had been the 2 contenders and through the voting, Armenia acquired 65 votes out of 123 solid in a secret poll, whereas 58 had been solid in favor of Azerbaijan, Muhamad introduced.
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