After three days of intense negotiations, when word had begun to circulate in the corridors about a possible postponement or, indeed, the organisation of a third supplementary meeting, the special session of the sixteenth United Nations Conference on biological diversity — nicknamed Cop16bis — came to a close with a diplomatic success and numerous, perhaps too many, compromises.

A meeting that was highly technical and poorly attended, except by insiders and a handful of journalists hunting for news, between fleeting official press conferences and last-minute ones organised by international organisations that tried until the very end to bring clarity and keep spirits and expectations high.

The first result of Cop16

The first objective to be secured was the launch of the Cali Fund for the sharing of economic benefits derived from the exploitation of genetic material from animal, plant, fungal and microbial species, among others, by companies — particularly in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical sectors — which are invited to contribute one per cent of their profits or 0.1 per cent of their turnover. Contributions that, under international law, cannot be made mandatory and will therefore depend on the willingness of private actors. "This is something that should not make us lose hope. Once the press conference is over, there may already be companies ready to donate," said Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (Cbd), smiling during the press conference, while Cop President Susana Muhamad stressed that payments into the Cali Fund should not be read as a form of charity but as an equitable financial mechanism aimed at the inclusion of local communities and, in particular, indigenous peoples — and above all the women who steward and protect approximately 28 per cent of the Earth's land surface. In Latin America, home to some of the world's most biodiverse countries, eighty per cent of natural areas lie within, or border on, indigenous ancestral territories where species still unknown to science live and are severely threatened by human activities. Facts that hit like a slap in the face when, in the corridors, delegations from countries such as Bolivia — considered one of the most biodiverse on the planet — pass by. Far removed, if only in appearance, from the artificial lights and institutional speeches that dominated three days of proceedings, yet where the biodiversity crisis can no longer afford to be a political or economic discourse: it is inextricably bound up with the survival of species, cultures and traditions, including some of the three hundred indigenous languages at risk of disappearing by the end of the century if we do not halt the destruction of the ecosystems in which their speakers live — people who risk taking with them knowledge of incalculable value.

Susana Muhamad ✓ @susanamuhamad

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📢 From Cali to Belem, we keep mobilizing for the protection of life! ✊

At the closing plenary of #COP16, we launched the Cali to Belem Caravan, a path of mobilization and action across all sectors to strengthen the two most important environmental years in Latin American

♥ 352💬 23 27 feb 2025 · Apri su X →

The absence of the political world at Cop16

Some of the key decisions were taken in the final hours of negotiation, on Thursday 27 February, following an afternoon of closed-door work among groups of delegates pushed to confront one another outside the plenary by President Muhamad herself — a patient and precise orchestrator who, in the closing moments, did not fortunately fail to show her passion and her humanity, becoming visibly moved at the reaching of an agreement.

What brought the negotiations to a standstill — to the point of raising fears of failure — was the "Resource mobilization and financial mechanism". The document, which sets out various compromise solutions, outlines a roadmap to 2030 in which it will be decided — by 2028 — whether biodiversity financing should continue to be managed by the Global Environment Facility (Gef), a mechanism opposed above all by the Brics countries (including the founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), who describe it as discriminatory, or whether it will be housed within a new structure under the auspices of the Cop that must be made operational by 2030. Until that date, funding will continue to fall under the Gef which, it is worth remembering, is managed by the World Bank, whose principal shareholder is the United States of the Donald Trump and Elon Musk pairing. These funds may also, at least until the deadline set for the decision, come from public and private sectors and philanthropic bodies — a last-ditch attempt to reach the much-discussed target of 200 billion dollars by 2030, a figure that seems more utopian than ever when one considers that, to date, the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund has received only 382 million dollars, barely a handful of which came from Italy, which — in perfect alignment with the current Government at Cop16 — made itself scarce. Weighing heavily on the mood of negotiators was also the absence of the political world, including the hosts, who did not show their faces at the plenary: not so much as a greeting, not even a fleeting coffee at the bar on the first floor where, in somewhat stark contrast to what science tells us about the link between deforestation and agriculture and livestock farming, not a single vegan dish is on offer and, among the salads, smoked salmon slices and cold cuts of unspecified origin take centre stage.

Another new development is the promotion of a dialogue between finance and environment ministers, which is to be facilitated by the executive secretariat of the Convention in an attempt to actively engage policymakers.

An agreement was also reached on the monitoring mechanisms for the targets included in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), while, according to an analysis by Carbon Brief and the Guardian, 70 out of the 137 countries that submitted their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) – which define national strategies for addressing the biodiversity crisis and restoring ecosystems – fall short of the commitments needed to achieve the goal of protecting 30 per cent of land and 30 per cent of oceans by 2030.

What will happen after Cop16?

Despite the fact that the progress made is clear and the set goals have been achieved, what remains from multilateral conferences debating the future of the planet and of humanity is often a whisper amid the chaos – a pat on the back after a meeting that was hoped would change everything, but instead lacked substance. One always leaves the negotiating rooms with the same question, with doubts that will perhaps find an answer tomorrow. In the meantime, however, one million animal and plant species continue to face extinction – 50 per cent of them by the end of this century – 84 per cent of terrestrial endemic species are at risk due to global warming, and we must find the strength, as soon as possible, to stand up and do everything we can not to lose the wonder.