21 October 2024
What is COP16 and why is it important?
With just six years to go until the deadline for delivering the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s 2030 targets, here’s all you need to know about the UN Biodiversity Conference COP16.
This October, representatives of governments from across the world will gather in Cali, Colombia, for a UN conference discussing the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of natural resources.
This meeting is called CBD COP16 – but what does that mean, and what will happen there?
‘COP’ means ‘Conference of the Parties’, the regular meeting of Parties to a particular UN Convention. In this case, Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), or Biodiversity Convention, are meeting for the sixteenth time – COP16.
The last biodiversity conference (COP15) was held in Montreal in 2022, where the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was agreed. The GBF outlines four long-term goals towards a world living in harmony with nature by 2050, and twenty-three short-term targets to achieve this vision by halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030.
Where and when will COP16 be held?
COP16 will be hosted by Colombia, taking place in the city of Cali. It lasts for two weeks, starting on October 21.
What is the Convention on Biological Diversity?
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a global treaty launched at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and is one of the UN Conventions with the most parties.
Nations that signed the treaty meet every other year at the Conference of the Parties to review progress and set new priorities.
How is COP16 different to COP29 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)?
Biodiversity and climate change are inextricably linked – without conserving the breadth of natural resources on this planet, we cannot mitigate the effects of climate change, and without addressing climate change, we will continue to lose biodiversity at increasing rates. We cannot tackle one without the other.
There are, however, two separate UN conventions for biodiversity and climate change, both emerging from the Rio Earth Summit. The climate COP happens every year and is probably the one you’ve heard the most about – the conference discusses international commitments to net zero emissions and capping the global temperature rise. This year is its 29th meeting, held in Azerbaijan in late November – COP29.
Why does biodiversity matter?
Biodiversity is the rich variety of plants, animals, and microorganisms like fungi and bacteria that make up our natural world. Maintaining this variety is critical for all life on Earth, including ours.
Plants produce the oxygen we need to breathe, and capture carbon from the atmosphere. Biodiverse ecosystems help to regulate the climate, clean our air and water, and even protect communities from natural disasters.
With concerted action to implement the targets agreed at COP15, it may be possible to maintain a world of rich biodiversity, protecting the future of this planet and the life it contains.
What happens at COP16?
COP16 will see representatives from 196 governments gather in Cali, to discuss the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework.
They will be joined by delegates from the business and finance sectors, scientists and academics, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, women and youth representatives.
There will be side meetings and talks where delegates will share ideas, and a high-level segment attended by global environment ministers.
The expectation is that the meeting will encourage Parties to increase efforts towards achieving the targets, call for greater financial contributions from a broader range of public and private sources, and establish a new global fund to enable the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of digitally available genetic resources (DNA that has been taken from the natural world, sequenced, and the data made freely accessible).
What is on Kew’s agenda at COP16?
Kew will use our expertise to support countries in meeting the GBF targets, as well as ensuring that the most up-to-date science underpins decision-making.
1. Using science to support countries in meeting the GBF’s 2030 targets
The GBF’s twenty-three targets cover three key areas:
Reducing threats to biodiversity:
Our work on documenting and mapping plant and fungal diversity to identify important areas for conservation can help countries make decisions on biodiversity protection, and we're feeding into conservation assessments of threatened species to direct conservation resources towards the areas and species that need them.
Kew is also the UK scientific authority for the regulation of international trade in threatened flora, and we work with organisations across the world to identify species’ origins and curb the illegal trade in wild plants, from succulents to timber.
Sustainable use and sharing of nature’s benefits:
Relevant to GBF targets around sustainable management of both wild species and agriculture, Kew works with local communities on projects to conserve enset agrobiodiversity in Ethiopia and growing native trees among shade-grown coffee plantations in Mexico.
Tools and finance for implementing the targets:
Kew provides capacity-building, training and resources to establish seed banks, rebuild ecosystems and conserve biodiversity in a wide range of projects and partnerships across the world.
We will also communicate our science to policymakers and governments at COP16 and beyond, to ensure that all biodiversity policy is evidence-based.
2. Biodiversity funding and economy
Meeting the GBF’s targets and conserving biodiversity for the future will require a great deal of funding, which must be raised from both the public and private sectors.
One of a range of options to raise finances is biodiversity credits – an economic initiative allowing private companies to direct money to biodiversity conservation. An International Advisory Panel has been established to investigate whether this could be a successful way to raise the funds required.
Kew has fed into this in a similar way as with other independent advisory bodies – we are acting as a knowledge partner to advise on the science and evidence-base behind any decision on the implementation of biodiversity credit schemes.
3. Access and benefit sharing of digital genetic resources
The Convention on Biological Diversity recognises the importance of benefit sharing around natural resources – any benefits (monetary or otherwise) that come from the collection or use of a resource should be shared with the communities of origin and fed back into conservation.
There is a legal framework for making sure this happens with physical collections such as herbarium or fungarium specimens (the Nagoya Protocol), but nowadays the DNA of a species can be sequenced and made freely available online with ease (known as Digital Sequence Information, or DSI). The question is how to equitably redistribute benefits from this digital wealth.
Kew will be supporting calls for the establishment of a global fund to help with benefit sharing around DSI, while also drawing attention to the importance of keeping such digital information open access and available to all, as these databases are a vital resource for science and innovation.
4. 2030 Declaration on Scientific Plant and Fungal Collecting
To meet the goals of the GBF, we need a better understanding of what biodiversity is out there – especially amongst plants and fungi. At COP16, Kew will be calling on individuals and organisations to sign the 2030 Declaration on Scientific Plant and Fungal Collecting, which contains five goals to better focus scientific efforts in documenting the world’s biodiversity.
These include investing in training and research, supporting local communities, and accelerating collection in the regions we know least about – the ‘darkspots’ of global plant diversity.
Why is Kew attending COP16?
Kew’s scientists have been involved in shaping the CBD right from the start, providing knowledge about the state of the world’s plants and fungi and evidence-based methodologies for conserving them.
If our science can continue to underpin global biodiversity policy and help countries achieve the targets set in place then we can provide a brighter future for all life on this planet.
