Over the past two weeks, world leaders gathered for the first time since 2022 in Cali, Colombia to assess progress towards stopping human-caused biodiversity loss and environmental degradation at COP16. The talks ended anticlimactically, with many key issues left unresolved as negotiations ran past their Friday deadline into Saturday morning and delegates struggled to reach consensus on core issues even after the summit’s official conclusion.
With high-stakes discussions stalled, it’s worth exploring both the wins and the frustrations that made COP16 a mixed moment. So, what did countries achieve, and where did they fall short? Let’s dive in.
What Even Is the Biodiversity COP?
First, some lingo clarification: COP stands for Conference of the Parties, a biannual United Nations (UN) summit. This one falls under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a UN treaty signed in 1992 to protect life’s rich variety on Earth. Its overarching goal? Halt the collapse of biodiversity that has scientific experts openly panicking.
Unlike the more specifically climate-focused COPs, the biodiversity COP tackles issues of species extinction, ecosystem collapse, and resource depletion. These meetings lack some of the media glitz and A-list appeal of more well-known climate COPs, but convening nearly 200 countries together makes it one of the world’s key events in defense of our planet’s health. Running from October 21 through November 1, this year’s COP 16 biodiversity summit saw thousands converge on Cali, all in the name of keeping Earth’s ecosystems alive.
Why Exactly Is Biodiversity So Important?
Biodiversity refers to the huge variability of life on Earth, from the tiniest bacterium to vast, lush rainforests. This complex web of life allows for clean water, nutritious food, and our very survival.
However, this web is unraveling fast, and is especially at risk from climate change. Species are disappearing at alarming rates, with up to six million at risk of extinction over the next 50 years. Wildlife populations have declined by almost 70% over the last 50 years. And unlike climate change, which is at least theoretically reversible, once a species is gone, it’s gone forever. As more species vanish, we lose more than just animals; we sacrifice ecosystems that store carbon, pollinators that help us grow food, and potential medical cures. If we don’t act to preserve nature now, there’s no telling how much is at stake.
Recent Wins in Biodiversity Conservation
COP15, the last biodiversity COP held in Montreal in 2022, saw an enormous victory: the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Think of this as the biodiversity (albeit, non-legally binding) equivalent of the Paris Agreement, which holds countries accountable for curbing greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. The GBF includes 23 ambitious targets, such as protecting 30% of Earth’s land and water by 2030 and reducing environmentally harmful subsidies by $500 billion annually — subsidies that fuel devastating activities like deforestation and overfishing.
Another notable achievement was convincing wealthier nations to commit funds to ecologically rich but cash-strapped countries in the Global South. These countries pledged to provide $20 billion annually by 2025, increasing this amount to $30 billion by 2030. However, this funding is a tiny percentage of the estimated $700 billion annual cost to protect biodiversity — a sum sometimes referred to as the biodiversity finance gap.
The good news is that $700 billion is just a fraction of total global GDP, which amounts to more than $100 trillion total. And it’s far less than what countries collectively spend on subsidies for agriculture, fishing, and fossil fuels annually.
So we know that the money to protect biodiversity is out there. But how exactly to close this financing gap remains a deeply contentious question — one that COP16 was poised to help answer.
What Was (and Wasn’t) Accomplished This Year
COP16 wasn’t expected to replicate COP15’s policy gains, but instead officially check in on the GBF’s progress. Results were decidedly a mixed bag. Several countries in the Global South expressed frustration over dragged-out talks that ultimately left many key issues unresolved. Because the clock ran out, discussions will continue at an interim meeting in Bangkok next year, delaying sorely-needed clarity on progress even more.
But there were some clear wins.
New Tax on Genetic Data Use (The “DSI Fund”)
One significant COP16 achievement was the creation of the Digital Sequence Information (DSI) Fund, or the “Cali” fund. This fund aims to make large corporations in industries such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and cosmetics pay for using genetic data from natural sources. This data, available in open-access databases, has been a goldmine for companies who often use this information without a dime going back to the countries or Indigenous communities where the data originated, a phenomenon sometimes called “biopiracy.” The DSI Fund would divert at least half of revenues back to these communities — a clear step forward for environmental justice.
Indigenous Communities Get a Formal Invite to the Table
For the first time, COP16 delegates approved the creation of a permanent subsidiary body for Indigenous peoples and local communities, which will offer a formal avenue for Indigenous leaders to offer their feedback on biodiversity policies under the GBF. This is long overdue, as Indigenous communities steward about 80% of the world’s biodiversity. Now, Indigenous peoples will have greater power to advocate for practices that have sustained ecosystems for millennia.
Similarly, environmental human rights defenders, civil society organizations, and governments are collaborating on a new initiative called the Leaders Network for Environmental Activists and Defenders (LEAD), which aims to incorporate more Indigenous and activist voices into climate policy discussions. Organizers hope to shape and launch LEAD by the UN’s next leading climate summit COP30, taking place in 2025 in Brazil.
And now, COP16’s stumbles.
Budgeting Bungles
One of COP16’s primary goals was to firm up biodiversity financing streams. Yet, despite hours of debate, world leaders failed to agree on any new mechanism for raising or distributing the funding pledged under the GBF. The Global South made repeated calls for financial support, but wealthy nations seemed hesitant to solidify their commitments. Hemming and hawing is not the kind of action we’d hope to see as the world hurdles ever-faster towards multiple ecological tipping points.
No Agreement on Monitoring and Accountability
Another cliffhanger: COP16 was supposed to finalize a monitoring plan for the GBF targets, detailing how progress would be tracked and reported. However, negotiators left this critical task unfinished. Without clear accountability, there’s a real risk of repeating past failures — such as rinsing and repeating the unmet Aichi Biodiversity Targets from 2010.
Global Citizen NOW: Rio
Protecting biodiversity hotspots must be a top priority going forward — and nowhere is this more urgent than in the Amazon. The Amazon rainforest is home to 10% of the planet’s known species and one of Earth’s most effective carbon sinks. Yet, it’s vanishing at an alarming rate. That’s why Global Citizen is bringing our flagship thought leadership series Global Citizen: NOW to Rio de Janeiro on November 17, the eve of the G20 Leaders Summit, to highlight the urgency of action for the planet and the Amazon.
As COP16 concludes, too many of this conference’s goals remain stuck on the world’s “To-Do” list. But we can’t keep putting these targets off forever. Wealthier nations must honor their funding commitments, governments need to stop propping up environmentally harmful industries, and we all must advocate for policies that protect ecosystems over short-term profits.
Closing the biodiversity financing gap offers a priceless return on investment to ecosystems, economies, and humanity’s wellbeing. By supporting conservation efforts and drawing attention to these issues, we can give biodiversity a fighting chance.