From October 21 to November 1, biodiversity experts from all over the world met in Cali, Colombia, to participate in the 16^th UN biodiversity conference. Organisers expected 15,000 attendees, but the actual numbers turned out to be closer to 23,000, making COP16 the world’s biggest nature protection conference to date. However, the expected breakthrough in financing did not happen.

Similar to the climate conferences of the parties (COPs), the biodiversity COP struggles with securing funding for meeting international goals. In 2024, the Global North has yet again promised to raise over 18 billion Euro (20 billion US Dollar) for the Global South by 2025. Only 163 million USD had been pledged by Monday, October 28^th, by a total of eight countries. This meant that the COP fizzled out and many countries, especially Latin American ones, were left furious.

This is money that is key to enabling developing countries to fund protections for their globally important ecosystems, from rain forests to grasslands, deserts, forests and aquatic systems. From November 11 to 22, the COP29 in Baku will tackle similar questions, given that biosystems and the climate crisis are inextricably linked.

Prevent vicious circles of indebtedness

This was the 16^th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). At the same time, the 11^th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the fifth Meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of the Benefits Arising from their Utilization took place. This year’s Biodiversity COP took place in Colombia after Türkiye had to withdraw its offer to host the meetings due to the toll of the destructive earthquakes in February 2023.

The overarching task for the countries participating in the conference was to halt the rapid global destruction of nature and biodiversity. 38 per cent of the world’s tree species are at risk of extinction. And with vertebrates declining an average 73 per cent between 1970 and 2020, nature and biodiversity loss also affects animals. At the last COP in Montreal, Canada, two years ago, states committed to reversing biodiversity loss and preserving 30 per cent of land and the ocean by 2030. Now, they reviewed their progress and tried to find ways of speeding up the implementation.

Another important question discussed at the conference was whether debt should count as funding. Nature funding in the form of loans has been rising. For example, France has given around 87 per cent of its biodiversity contributions as loans. According to climate justice activists, this money should instead be given as grants to save poorer countries falling into a vicious circle of indebtedness.

Most countries contribute less than half their fair share

As the time has come to implement climate and biodiversity promises, financing takes centre stage. Developing countries can only make limited headway on biodiversity and other nature targets without financial support. It appears that while many countries are eager to pledge funding, following through on these promises is often a problem. Part of the reason might be that nature is often not a political priority.

According to the United Nations, the global nature finance gap is as high as 700 billion US Dollars, making the 20 billion discussed at the biodiversity conference in Cali sound comparatively low. It is the amount required to sustainably manage biodiversity and halt the destruction of ecosystems and species. And while 700 billion might seem like a mind-boggling number, it is less than the US spends on military funding each year.

So far, it appears that the majority of wealthy countries are contributing less than half of their fair share of biodiversity finance, according to this report released ahead of the COP16 meeting. Norway, Sweden, and Germany are exceptions.

A bitter aftertaste

The main success of COP16 was that a group of eight governments, including Germany, France, and the UK, confirmed fresh funding for biodiversity protection and restoration programmes. However, it was not possible to strike a new deal on funding for nature conservation. Other goals, such as the protection of land, also need to pick up speed. 17 per cent of land worldwide is now protected, but whether it will be possible to increase this number to 30 per cent by 2030 remains unclear.

Cali’s COP was designed to be the most inclusive one to date, with citizens, afro-descendants and campesino communities, as well as Indigenous peoples, scientists, social actors and all sectors playing a role in the discussion. The publicly accessible green zone hosted 1,000 events like panels, workshops, and musical performances, during the conference.

At the last Biodiversity COP 2022, the landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, aimed at ending nature loss by 2030, established a fund to realise these goals. Now, the question is how to implement the 23 goals outlined in this agreement in the future. Negotiations during this year’s COP were slow and marked by a lack of trust between countries. Agreements on key issues like compensation for the commercial use of biological information and the creation of a subsidiary body designed to ensure indigenous groups are included at every level of the Kunming-Montreal agreement were achieved. But the failure to make progress on financing left a bitter aftertaste.