Five challenges to preserving life on the planet

The SOS that science has launched about the collapse of wildlife populations in the world; the situation of thousands of indigenous people due to the increase in conflicts in the areas where they live; And the economic impact of species loss are some of the topics that this Monday to November 1 at the World Biodiversity Summit, COP16, brings together delegations of leaders, companies and organizations from 196 countries. The objective: to negotiate for 11 days on how to deal with the urgency of completing what has already been agreed. Motto: “Peace with nature.”

Two years after the Canadian summit, which ended with a global agreement to protect 30% of land and the other 30% of ocean, the reality is that annual commitments are not being met. And experts warn that the results are already noticeable. “If natural services like pollination or clean water were destroyed, the economy would also lose hundreds of millions of dollars every year,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recalled at the opening ceremony this morning. A few minutes earlier, Colombian President Gustavo Petro had encouraged a change in global finance “which nowadays is linked to greed and death.”

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There are many challenges facing COP16 which currently welcomes more than 15,000 people in one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet: hundreds of thousands of hectares of tropical forests burned this year; 85% of wetlands were destroyed; 163,000 species are on the ‘Red List’ as being at risk of extinction… Beyond these dizzying figures, five fundamental issues emerged from the meeting.

1. Security under minimum

30×30 objective

The 30×30 global goal, i.e. protecting 30% of land and 30% of ocean by 2030, is at least five years away from its fulfillment. Only 31 out of 196 signatory countries have presented their national strategies to achieve this. In the EU, only seven out of 27 have them. But Greenpeace has also pointed out in a report that 87% of previously protected ecosystems are still in poor condition. Globally, it is worse: according to the international NGO Camping for Nature (CFC), 2.8% of the ocean receives some effective protection, a rate it estimates will reach 9.7% within five years. Not even a third of the purpose.

2. financing, hole

Almost no one complied; Spain, the least of which

It was agreed in Montreal that each year the developed world would spend $20 billion of public money to conserve biodiversity in developing countries. If we rely on private funds, it will be Rs 700,000 million. CFN has revealed that, on the public side, only two countries are in compliance with their ecological footprint in 2021. He says that there is a lack of transparency in the private sector. Global losses totaled $11.6 billion. According to OECD, this deficit was estimated at 4.6 billion in 2022. For example, Spain contributed only 15% of the amount it would receive in 2021, making it the lowest contribution.

3. A biodiversity market?

Banks present at the summit

At the opening of COP16, Guterres highlighted the importance of finding new sources of financing. And there is division over the need to promote the biodiversity debt market as a means of financing actions that protect it. The NGO Survival explains the difficulties of putting data on complex ecosystems and how this will affect indigenous people. The reality is that the world’s major banks are already present in Cali due to the strong interest generated by the nature of ‘monetization’. Institutions like JP Morgan or Standard Chartered are sending delegates to this summit for the first time.

4. The natives, the losers

surrounded by climate change

The indigenous presence at COP16, held in a country home to 115 diverse peoples, focuses on the growing conflicts they face with an economic system based on extracting natural resources. Members of many organizations deplore that, despite their role as custodians of biodiversity, not only do they not receive resources to mitigate the effects of climate change such as drought or floods, but they also do not receive resources to mitigate the impacts of climate change such as livestock farming or mining. Such activities are also increasing. The Coordinator of Amazonian Peoples (COICA) condemns it. In Africa, conflict arises particularly in parks with wildlife from which they are expelled, Survival condemns.

5. Natural genetics, for sale

pending compensation

Another controversial issue is the digitization of genetic sequences of fauna and flora. Large companies, especially pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies, make substantial profits without the communities they come from being adequately compensated. Although it was agreed in 2022 that this genetic use should be compensated, there is still no mechanism that allows this to be done and, according to research published in Bloomberg, it does not seem that Kelly is in that place. Where the problem will be solved.