The COP16 biodiversity ended on Saturday November 2 in Cali, failing to obtain an agreement on the financing of the roadmap that humanity has set to stop the destruction of nature by 2030.
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The negotiations were suspended in the morning by the president of the United Nations summit, the Colombian Susana Muhamad, when she noticed that she had lost the quorum of delegates, who had left to catch their plane after a sleepless night in plenary. “ It’s over “, declared Susana Muhamad from the stand where she congratulated herself with her teams.
Despite the failure of crucial negotiations on financing and on a monitoring mechanism, supposed to ensure that countries fulfill their commitments made two years ago in Montreal to save nature.
The Colombian presidency, however, is pleased to have obtained the adoption of decisions which it had made a priority: a reinforced status for indigenous peoples in the biodiversity COPs, a text on the recognition of Afro-descendants, and the implementation of a multilateral fund. The latter aims to share with developing countries the profits made by companies thanks to the digitized genome of plants and animals in their territories.
Also listenBiodiversity COP: reinforced status of indigenous peoples, “a major step forward for the populations concerned”
Countries hostile to the multiplication of development aid funds
After more than ten hours of bitter nocturnal debates during the night from Friday to Saturday, the countries had finally tackled the most explosive subject of the conference: how to achieve by 2030 the objective of increasing to 200 billion dollars per year global spending to save nature, including thirty billion in aid from rich countries.
To achieve this, the Colombian presidency presented a road map including the creation of a new fund for nature, which is refused by rich countries, hostile to the multiplication of multilateral development aid funds.
Fixed positions
As expected, the speech of Brazil, the first supporter of the Colombian presidency, in response to those of the European Union, Japan and Canada, revealed positions that were still frozen after twelve days of summit in a lush valley of the Andes mountain range. Panama then asked the Colombian presidency to verify the quorum. This being no longer fulfilled, this was the reason given for suspending the closing plenary.
“ Of course, this makes the potential weaker and slower » of the UN process, supposed to remedy the nature crisis which threatens the prosperity of humanity, declared Susana Muhamad. “ The Colombian government has mobilized a lot […] the Colombian people gave everything, […] but ultimately it depends on the parties and the negotiation process “, she justified, on the verge of tears.
After a sleepless night spent without interruption in negotiations, at the moment when the text that everyone was waiting for, the most difficult one, which related to the question of financing, was under discussion and we began to have this expected clash of the titans between the countries in question. development and developed countries, as the time progressed and the planes took off, the room began to empty, and the delegate from Panama raised a procedural point and asked to count if there were enough people in the room to actually be able to continue to adopt texts. In the procedures, a quorum is required and therefore there must be two thirds of the delegations present in order for us to continue. This was not the case at all and therefore interruption of the COP. An image: it’s as if in fact, we had to stop in the 99th minute of the World Cup final, because for x reasons, there was no more electricity in the stadium, we is forced to interrupt the match and reschedule it for a few remaining minutes a few days later. Well, this is what will happen over the course of a few months and we will see how the teams will prepare to conclude the final.
Aleksandar Rankovic, professor at Sciences Po and founder of the think tank The Common Initiative, says: “It’s as if in fact we had to stop at the 99th minute of the World Cup final”
Is it surprising an abrupt end to COP like that?
It happens that delegations do not have time to vote on everything, but in general it is technical decisions that are postponed. There, everyone stuck to their positions regarding the main subjects, so they were only discussed in the early morning, reports our special correspondent in Cali, Lucile Gimberg.
It was a dramatic turn of events, especially because, after more than 10 hours in plenary, the countries had finally arrived at the most explosive subject. The creation or not of a new fund dedicated to biodiversity. This was THE request from the Africa group and Brazil who consider the current financial window too difficult to access and not representative enough. On the other hand, the European Union and other Western countries like Japan, Canada and Australia did not want to hear about it.
The crucial question of how to mobilize more money to finance the policies to be put in place to preserve nature has therefore not been resolved. And the outcome of the North-South standoff is postponed until a future meeting.
The countries have still adopted the creation of a fund which will collect contributions from companies using digitized genetic data of plants and animals, in particular, and give permanent representation to indigenous peoples within the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Disappointment of the DRC negotiator
“ We thought we were going to adopt it directly [le document, NDLR] since everyone was consulted. We were surprised to see that the others still wanted to be given time for all that… At the last minute, they did not want to adopt the document, which effectively proves that they were not agreement. Despite the consultations we have done, this already shows bad faith », denounces Nicky Kingunia, chief negotiator of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The documents contained our demands. There was of course the creation of a fund, as we requested, that it be under the authority and control of the COP. It’s a compromise document that had been… We knew that since it’s a compromise document, everyone was consulted… So, for us, we thought that we were going to adopt it directly since everyone world was consulted. We were surprised to see that the others still wanted to be given time for all that. At the last minute, they did not want to adopt the document, which effectively proves that they did not agree. Despite the consultations we have done, this already shows bad faith. Unfortunately, the document was not adopted…
The DRC chief negotiator after COP 16 ends without agreement on financing: “We will persevere to be able to obtain what we want”
A state of mind shared by Joschka Brangs, spokesperson for WWF Austria, present in Cali. “We agreed, two years ago, on global objectives to achieve to fight against the extinction of species,” he explains. “ To know whether we are achieving these goals or not, we needed to adopt in Cali the necessary mechanism to measure our progress. But nothing has been decided. This means that we can’t even check whether we are on the right track or not. »
We leave this COP empty-handed! Throughout this conference, industrialized countries, including the European Union, have shown that they are clearly not ready to implement the objectives on which we have all agreed.
Joschka Brangs, spokesperson for WWF Austria
Also listenCop16: “Make peace with nature” to save humanity
A fund on sharing benefits from genetic resources
The 196 nations of COP16 biodiversity adopted on Saturday November 2 in Cali, Colombia, the implementation of a multilateral fund supposed to be supplemented by companies making profits thanks to the digitized genome of plants or animals from countries in development.
There is genetic data from plants and animals that live in developing countries. This genetic data is digitized, then used by large companies – notably pharmaceutical and cosmetics – to manufacture medicines or even makeup and skincare products. Companies reap huge profits from this genetic data. But until now, this windfall of money has not benefited the developing countries from which the plants and animals originate.
The participants of COP16 in Colombia decided this Saturday to put an end to this injustice: they created the “Cali Fund”, into which companies that use genetic data will be able to pay 1% of their profits or 0.1%. of their income. These payments are voluntary, but the most optimistic hope to raise billions of dollars. Money from the private sector therefore which will be placed under the aegis of the UN, then redistributed: half for developing countries, the other half for indigenous peoples with the aim of helping them protect nature.