COP16:the predictable flop of the biodiversity protection forum

Despite some light in the shadows, the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP16), held in Cali, Colombia, ended in stalemate.At the end of the meetings, the countries they did not find the expected agreement on how to make the financial resources available for the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBF), the fund created specifically to halt the loss of biodiversity in various areas of the world, reversing the trend of decline.Two years ago, in Montreal, the states committed themselves to mobilizing a minimum of 200 billion per year by 2030 and to increase financing towards developing countries, but the objectives set still seem like a mirage."A bad sign ahead of the climate conference, COP29, which opens in Baku, Azerbaijan, on November 11th", commented the National Animal Protection Agency (ENPA), after what all organizations active in the fight for the environment believe to be a dangerous about-face of States regarding the protection of biodiversity.

The COP16 meetings were supposed to end on November 1st, but according to the few testimonies of journalists present on site, they would be This went on for over 12 hours, during the entire night, and would have ended because some of the interlocutors present, unable to delay their flight, would have been forced to leave the place to return to their homeland.The reason why the jobs would happen continued for a long time lies in that same "failure" denounced by numerous environmental organizations:failure to reach an agreement regarding financing.This was a theme of fundamental importance, which consisted of finding a way to make the financial resources for the GBF available to the States and fill the total financing gap necessary to achieve the primary objectives set by the last meetings of 2022.These revolve around 24 key points to be achieved by 2030, with the ultimate aim of halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2050.To reach them, the 2022 agreement calls for increasing annual spending to $200 billion, while developed countries had committed to providing $30 billion by 2030.To date, according to WWF, are the fund has just over 400 million dollars.In summary, at the end of the meetings, it was not clarified where and from whom to obtain resources necessary to finance policies to support biodiversity.

Despite the substantial black smoke, COP16 achieved some significant measures:the most important is certainly the birth of Cali Fund, a fund that aims to equally share the benefits deriving from the use of genetic resources linked to biodiversity, also allowing indigenous populations to participate in the decisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity.Specifically, 50% of the fund will be allocated to indigenous populations and local communities, through the mediation of state governments.However, it should be underlined that all that glitters is not gold:many of the details relating to the disbursement of funds in fact they have not yet been defined, and, in general, participation in the platform appears to be free of constraints and based exclusively on a voluntary basis.It is still too early to understand whether the Cali Fund will really mark a turning point in the recognition of the rights of indigenous populations, but several elements suggest that much more could have been done.Progress has then been made in the field of identification and conservation of marine areas, but even in this case some associations, first of all Legambiente, they underline that «there is no shortage of critical issues», including «the fact that we cannot be satisfied with areas identified on paper».

According to many, COP16 would not just end in resounding failure, but would mark a decisive setback - if not actually a backtrack – towards the objectives of protecting biodiversity and protecting the environment previously set.From this perspective, the lack of results of COP16 would risk having an impact negative echo on the ever closer COP29, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, which will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, starting from 11 November.Confirming the groups' concerns about the environment is the same location where the meetings will take place, from highly significant symbolic load:the Baku Conference in fact follows that of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and thus marks the second COP in a row which, ironically, is located in one of the top 25 oil producers in the world.

[by Dario Lucisano]