Cali [Colombia], October 22: The UN biodiversity summit, known as COP16, officially opened in Colombia on Monday, and hopes are high that negotiating countries can agree on a path forward to safeguarding the planet, UN News reported today .
Considered the world's most important event to conserve biodiversity, the summit is taking place in Cali, the third-largest city of the South American nation, and will host some 15,000 attendees, including a dozen heads of state, 103 ministers, and over 1,000 international journalists.
Aiming to promote international cooperation, agree on investments to protect ecosystems and strengthen global environmental policies, COP16 takes as its roadmap the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework (GBF), a landmark plan to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2030, adopted at COP15 in Canada.
The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) describes biodiversity as "the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems, including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi". These three work together to create life on Earth in all its complexity.
The diversity of species keeps the global ecosystem in balance, providing everything in nature that humans need to survive, including food, clean water, medicine, and shelter. Biodiversity is also the strongest natural defence against climate change. Land and ocean ecosystems act as "carbon sinks", absorbing more than half of all carbon emissions.
Delegates at COP16, formally the 16th Conference of Parties to the UN Biodiversity Convention, will discuss how to restore rapidly degrading lands and seas in a way that protects the planet and respects the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.
A key goal will be to fully implement the so-called '30 by 30' Kunming-Montreal pledge to protect 30 percent of the planet's lands and inland waters, as well as marine and coastal areas, by 2030.
Marking the first global gathering on the vital issue of biodiversity since 2022, when countries agreed on the historic framework, COP16 will run until 1st November in Cali, the capital of Valle del Cauca. This area is surrounded by the sounds of the jungle, streams, green mountains, and the Pacific Ocean in the northwest of the country.
Colombia's Pacific region is marked by landscapes that could be printed on postcards to commemorate their beauty. Colombia is considered one of the most biodiverse countries in the world with 311 types of continental and marine ecosystems per square kilometres.
Home to more than one thousand species of birds, four thousand species of orchids, and with 53 per cent of its territory covered by forests, Colombia's selection as COP16 host highlights the importance of the region in the global biodiversity agenda and the fundamental role it plays in the protection of ecosystems.
During the summit's opening ceremony on Sunday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged delegations from some 190 countries to "make peace with nature" and shore up plans to stop habitat loss, save endangered species, and preserve our planet's precious ecosystems.
The UN chief's call came in a video message to the opening ceremony of the gathering. The UN Secretary-General said, "The framework is grounded in a clear truth - for humanity to survive, nature must flourish... it promises to reset relations with Earth and its ecosystems."
Guterres underscored that delegations must leave Cali with significant investments in the GBF, its related funds and commitments to mobilize other sources of public and private finance to deliver on its goals in full.
"We have a plan to rescue humanity from a degraded Earth," the Secretary-General said, and added that he looked forward to seeing delegates in person at the end of the COP "to hear how you have delivered".
Source: Emirates News Agency
