Sustainable Switch-COP16: Pay up to save nature
By Sharon Kimathi
Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital
sharon.kimathi@thomsonreuters.com
Hello!
It’s that time of the year again when national leaders and climate delegates come together to discuss biodiversity at the 16th United Nations Conference of the Parties summit.
Before we get into the weeds, let’s break down the difference between this COP and the one taking place next month.
COP16, held in Cali, Colombia this year, is all about biodiversity and how to save nature from the current rapid rate of destruction. COP29, taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan next month, is about measuring progress andnegotiating multilateral agreements to address climate change’s effects.
It’s also worth pointing out that the biodiversity COP came first – launched at the Earth Summit in 1992.
The first biodiversity conference was convened in 1994 in Nassau, Bahamas in accordance with the Convention on Biological Diversity at the suggestion of the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The first COP was held in Berlin, Germany, in 1995, to support countries that had joined the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that came into force in 1994.
Another difference is that the biodiversity conference is not typically held annually, unlike the UNFCCC conference.
Now that the background of the different COPs have been covered to stop potential confusion, let’s dive into the latest developments taking place in Cali.
* ‘The planet doesn't have time to lose’
Nearly 200 nations came together for the two-week U.N. biodiversity summit and they already feel the pressure to prove their support for the goals laid out in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreement.
One of the biggest goals is the agreement's hallmark "30 by 30" goal of preserving 30% of the land and sea by 2030, which the world is already lagging behind.
"The planet doesn't have time to lose," said Colombia's Environment Minister Susana Muhamad, who also serves as COP16's president.
"We are not better off now than we were two years ago," she said.
During the COP15 talks in 2022, negotiators set a goal for $20 billion annually by 2025 to help developing countries on biodiversity.
"It could be that the funds are not enough, for example, to be able to produce the plans," Muhamad told Reuters. Countries with newly elected governments also may still be getting up to speed, she said.
* ‘Underfunded for this mission’
Another important part of the biodiversity COP is figuring out how to implement the Biodiversity Framework agreement, which includes finding $200 billion per year for conservation.
Speakers at the opening of the summit lamented that it has thus far only raised millions and not the billions envisioned.
Poorer countries have had a harder time finding the funding and expertise needed to develop national biodiversity plans, said the World Wide Fund for Nature's (WWF) advocacy chief Bernadette Fischler Hooper.
"We all agree that we are underfunded for this mission," said Muhamad.
Developed countries agreed in the biodiversity framework to provide developing nations $20 billion annually by 2025, during the COP15 conference in Montreal, Canada in 2022.
Brazil's top negotiator Andre Correa do Lago said that gap needs to be filled in a way that does not put developing countries further into debt.
Click here to find out more about what else is on the COP16 agenda, including the possible creation of a permanent body on Indigenous issues and the establishment of a global multilateral system for sharing genetic information from plants, animals and microbes.
* Talking Points
Floods in Bangladesh have destroyed an estimated 1.1 million metric tons of rice, according to data from the agriculture ministry, prompting the country to ramp up imports of the staple grain amid soaring food prices.
Indigenous rights:"You committed genocide against our people," said independent senator and Indigenous activist Lidia Thorpe to Britain’s King Charles at Australia's Parliament House during his visit to the nation. "Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us - our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people. You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty," said Thorpe.
Major mining company BHP is trying to avoid its responsibility for Brazil's worst environmental disaster, lawyers representing thousands of victims told London's High Court, as a lawsuit worth up to 36 billion pounds ($47 billion) began.
The amount of aid entering Gaza has plummeted to its lowest level all year, according to U.N. data. In addition, a global hunger monitor and the U.N. have warned and accused Israel of denying and impeding dozens of attempts to deliver aid this month, particularly to Gaza's north.
Consumer protection lawsuits:A UK regulator fined Volkswagen's financial unit 5.4 million pounds for mistreating struggling customers from 2017 to 2023. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a conservative challenge to job protections for federal consumer watchdog leaders.
UK race trial: Martyn Blake, a British police officer was acquitted of the murder of an unarmed 24-year-old Black man, Chris Kaba, he shot dead in London two years ago, an incident that led to large protests and trauma among the capital's Black community.
* In Conversation
Margarita Skarkou, Principal at sustainability-focused venture capital firm 2150, shares her thoughts on COP16 and data management:
“Biodiversity is rapidly establishing itself as the next frontier in sustainability management, and the market for biodiversity data is exploding.
“However, new technologies are needed to help close the data gap and make biodiversity monitoring accessible and effective.
“Here, businesses should embrace new technological solutions like eDNA and remote sensing to measure their impact in order to move in line with frameworks like the Global Biodiversity Framework and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and to manage nature-related risks and opportunities.
“The ambitious goals set by TNFD and others present businesses with a challenge.
“In order to accurately monitor, report, and manage their biodiversity impact, they have to measure something that is exceedingly complex and interconnected.
“Unlike the ‘simple’ tCO2e metric for greenhouse gasses, biodiversity is inherently context and location dependent, complex, and non-fungible.
“There is also no single unified metric for biodiversity, which can lead to inconsistencies in assessment and make it harder to compare different data sets.
“Plus, many of the pre-existing solutions to measure biodiversity are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and biased. This has resulted in the poor availability of data in many areas of the world, making it harder for businesses to reduce their impact.”
* ESG Lens
Hurricane Oscar weakened into a tropical storm and is moving over Eastern Cuba, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, as the island country struggles to restore power after its worst blackout in years. Click here for an Reuters image-led story on the power grid blackout.
* ESG Spotlight
In keeping with the theme of COP16 in Colombia, scientists in the South American country say they have developed a novel food supplement that protects bees' brains from pesticides.
Bees, as pollinators, are considered essential for the preservation of natural ecosystems and food production. The supplement will help keep the insects safe from neurological damage caused by agricultural chemicals.
The plant-based supplement developed at Colombia's private Rosario University in Bogota, in partnership with the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Arizona and Colombian Universidad Javeriana, allows bees to cope with neurotoxins commonly used in agriculture and avoid having their motor system and memory harmed by the chemicals.
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The path of Tropical Storm Oscar https://reut.rs/48cuS84
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