UN biodiversity summit comes to abrupt end as deal on global nature fund falls through

The 16th UN biodiversity conference being held in Colombia, was suspended abruptly on Saturday as countries could not agree on the creation of a new global fund for nature after tense overnight talks.

Establishing the fund was a key demand of developing countries but the EU, Switzerland and other developed nations raised last-minute objections at the Cop16 summit in Cali.

Only 12 governments have voluntarily contributed to the fund, amounting to $396 million, a far cry from the $700 billion needed to effectively implement the goals of the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) agreement which aims to halt the rapid decline of nature by 2030 – and effectively restore biodiversity.

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The failure to secure the fund and to agree on other measures was criticised by Irish delegates representing environmental NGOs at the talks held over the past fortnight.

With delegates trickling out of the closing plenary to travel home, Cop16 President Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s environment minister, invoked a quorum and then announced there were not enough people to deliberate; suspending the conference.

It has not been closed, insisted David Ainsworth of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, but when and where it will resume is still to be determined. Anything already adopted at Cop16 still stands and is operative, he added.

That includes agreement on a separate new fund for countries to protect nature, to be paid into by companies that sell products, like drugs and cosmetics, based on genetic data from the natural world – known as digital sequence information. The proceeds will be used in nature conservation.

Parties also approved a measure to create a permanent body for indigenous peoples to consult on UN decisions about nature conservation. The consultative body is considered a breakthrough in recognising the role indigenous peoples play in conserving nature globally, including some of the most biodiverse areas of the planet, according to Indigenous and environmental advocates.

Negotiators from 196 countries including Ireland attempted to advance on the landmark global biodiversity pact adopted in Montreal two years ago.

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“Cop16 has stumbled and faltered before the key talks on a financial mechanism could be concluded. After all night negotiations the talks ran out of time and out of delegates and as a result the talks were suspended leaving the key issue of funding in limbo,” said Grace Carr, marine advocacy officer at the Irish Wildlife Trust.

“This is a delay we can’t afford as we see alarming evidence on a weekly basis that the earth is moving towards dangerous environmental tipping points,” she added.

The UN gathering has failed to achieve sufficient progress on the key elements of the Kuming-Montreal GBF, including adoption of national biodiversity strategies and action plans, ramping up funding and tackling harmful subsidies, said Fintan Kelly, agriculture and land use policy officer with The Irish Environmental Network.

“Cop16 has failed to achieve a breakthrough moment on these key issues or to provide the transformative change that is necessary to address biodiversity loss,” he added.

The talks were hampered by a clear North-South divide with the industrialised countries in the global north reluctant to commit to increasing funding towards biodiversity, while the mega-diverse countries in the global south were resistant towards improving implementation in the absence of funding, Ms Carr said.

“African nations were particularly vocal about their capacity constraints while Argentina and Brazil were inflexible on their red lines. Russia was obstructive in talks, for example working to remove language that acknowledged the global climate crisis,” she said.

Ireland will hold the EU presidency in 2026 when Armenia hosts Cop17, Mr Kelly noted. “Therefore Ireland along with the European Commission will be the voice of the EU within the negotiations. The failure to make sufficient progress on key issues such as implementation, finance and oversight mean that Ireland will have a lot of work to do in 2026 to make up for the momentum that has been lost since the adoption of the Global Biodiversity Framework.”

Countries also adopted a measure that recognises the role of people of African descent in caring for nature, which Cop16 host Colombia said would grant such communities easier access to resources to fund their biodiversity projects and participate in global environmental discussions.

The measure’s adoption was met with chants and singing by campaigners, as well as words of thanks from Colombia Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo, who said the breakthrough was particularly important for Latin America and the Caribbean. – Additional reporting Bloomberg