UN nature summit ends in limbo as countries spar over funding

Complex technicalities, political differences, interest group lobbying drag negotiations

CALI, Colombia - The 16th United Nations Biodiversity Conference ended abruptly on Nov 2 as countries disagreed in overtime talks about the creation of a new global nature fund.

After negotiations in Cali, Colombia, stretched into the morning of Nov 2 and delegates began to depart to travel home, Ms Susana Muhamad, the host country's environment minister and the president of COP16, ultimately suspended the summit for lack of a quorum.

The main focus of COP16 was to advance a landmark biodiversity pact adopted in Montreal two years ago. Through the so-called Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, almost 200 countries agreed to reverse a steep decline in nature by the end of the decade and come up with hundreds of billions of dollars for that purpose.

"The outcome of COP16 represents a mixed bag," said Ms Ginette Hemley, senior vice-president for wildlife at World Wildlife Fund US. There was real progress on issues including benefit-sharing related to genetic information and health and biodiversity, she said. "But the lack of progress on finance will hold back efforts to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030."

Notwithstanding the last-minute drama, COP16 achieved some of its goals. Countries will move forward with a new Cali Fund to protect nature, to be paid into by companies that sell products, such as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, based on genetic data from the natural world.

But in other ways, what was dubbed at the outset a "COP of implementation" fell short of ambitions. The majority of parties failed to submit their plans to meet the 2022 pact, and rich nations pledged just a trickle of new funds.

The conference has not been closed, said Mr David Ainsworth of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. When and where it will resume is still to be determined. Anything already adopted at COP16 still stands and is operative, Mr Ainsworth said.