A UKCEH delegation was part of the science community at COP16 in Colombia last month. This global summit was a pivotal step in advancing the international commitment needed to address the biodiversity crisis and protect ecosystems. Read more about their experience...
COP16, the 16th United Nations’ conference for nature, brought together signatories to the Convention on Biodiversity in Cali, Colombia (21 October–1 November). This was the first biodiversity COP to take place since governments around the globe agreed to a new Global Biodiversity Framework, which aims to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.
For the first time UKCEH achieved observer status for this global two-week event and, supported by the NC-International programme, UKCEH sent a delegation of four scientists – Dr Nick Isaac, Dr Tom August, Dr Lindsay F Banin and Dr Rob Cooke. Those attending were able to build on existing international partnerships, explore opportunities for new collaborations and help to strengthen our position as a global environmental research institute.
As part of the proceedings UKCEH co-hosted, with the Natural History Museum, an event at the British High Commission in Cali on ‘The UK’s role in biodiversity monitoring and modelling.’ This consisted of two panel sessions, chaired by Tom and Nick respectively, and a demonstration of the AMI (automated monitoring of insects) system, highlighting innovative science and technology to help reverse biodiversity loss.
Below, each of the team reflect on the event, the experience of taking part and what it means for biodiversity.
A global gathering
"The most striking thing about COP is the diversity of participants. Scientific meetings are often characterised by a lack of diversity, often dominated by individuals from wealthy countries. However, the COP is a genuinely global gathering, reflecting the fact that all 196 parties to the Convention send a delegation. In addition to the number of countries represented, the COP is notable for the cross-sectoral representation of society, from governments and business, through academia and NGOs, to youth groups and indigenous people from across the planet.
There is no other gathering that I am aware of where so many different voices have the opportunity to express their views."
Dr Nick Isaac
Nature needs action
"COP16 was promoted as both an ‘Implementation COP’ and a ‘COP of the people’. Reflecting on the event, I experienced a mix of frustration and hope. Frustration, as formal negotiations around how countries will implement their promises stalled or broke down. Yet hope, as tens of thousands of people from across the globe gathered to try to make a difference. The diversity of people, cultures, and perspectives was the true highlight of COP16 for me. One of the biggest successes, and the most moving moment, was the establishment of a permanent body to represent the voices of indigenous peoples and local communities within the framework.
Despite this progress, more work is needed to translate the promises of the Global Biodiversity Framework into action. Currently, fewer than a quarter (44 out of 196 parties) of countries, including the UK, have submitted National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). The optimist in me believes that with extra time will come extra quality, but the time for concrete plans of action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss is now."
Dr Rob Cooke
Funding our future
“There was jubilation in the room when the negotiation was finalised to secure Article 8j – a subsidiary body to give voice to indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs), which stands out as one of the big achievements of COP16. This accompanied an emphasis on accounting for diversity of values and distribution of resources to people on the ground who are stewards for, defend and protect nature. Financing on-the-ground action remains a huge point of discussion, with large deficits between financial pledges and the estimated cost of conserving biodiversity.
A related, notable outcome was the establishment of the Cali Fund – a benefit-sharing mechanism to ensure that industry contributes a proportion of profits for the access and use of digital sequence information, with the intention that half of this fund would feed into self-identified needs of IPLCs. A number of bustling sessions focused on biodiversity credit mechanisms, covering contrasting viewpoints, but with a keenness to learn lessons from previous failures of market-based approaches to ecosystem protection.
It is clear the scientific community has an important role in helping navigate through challenging, intersecting issues around land-use change, sustainable food production and consumption, and meeting climate, biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods targets."
Dr Lindsay F Banin
The need to act quickly
“Conservation technology has demonstrated great potential to support biodiversity monitoring and, in combination with traditional methods, could meet some of the monitoring needs of the 2030 targets. We need to move rapidly towards solutions to these biodiversity challenges given the evidence of declines in biodiversity, and the ambitious targets the Convention on Biological Diversity has set. We should focus on technologies that are able to meet the global scale of the monitoring challenge ahead; ie, they need to be cost-effective, easy to use, and provide reliable and actionable data.
It is time for the conservation technology community to prove its solutions, and time is running out."
Dr Tom August
Additional information
Read more from Tom in a COP16 blog post for the WILDLABS network
About Article 8j - Traditional Knowledge, Innovations and Practice
Tracking countries' progress on nature action plans