The countries of the world reach an agreement to finance nature preservation efforts

The countries of the world have reached the last night – at the last moments at the end of arduous negotiations in Rome – an agreement on financing environmental preservation efforts, thus avoiding the repetition of the failure with similar negotiations that took place in Colombia four months ago.

On the third and last day of the 16th United Nations Conference (COB 16) of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the rich and poor countries succeeded in making mutual concessions, which resulted in an agreement on an action plan to finance nature protection until 2030.

As soon as the decision was applied, the delegates stood and applauded for a long time, with joy by reaching an agreement in the last minutes of the last day of the negotiations that took place in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

“The applause for you all … you have done an amazing work,” said Susanna Mohamed, President of the 16th Colombian Conference, Susanna Mohamed. The decision places a road map on ways to finance nature conservation efforts in the world.

The billions of dollars must be raised to achieve the goal of stopping the removal of forests, excessive exploitation of resources and pollution by 2030, which are factors that are at risk of food supplies and climate, and the survival of one million species of endangered organisms.

This goal, which was scheduled in 2022 in the Kunming-Montreal Agreement, is accompanied by a road map that includes 23 targets to be achieved by 2030.

It was scheduled that the signed 196 countries will agree on the Convention on Biodiversity at the 16th Conference of the Parties in Kali, on the way to solve the problem of lack of financing for this ambitious road map.

The agreement stipulates that the world will spend its spending to protect nature to reach 200 billion dollars annually by 2030, of which 30 billion in the form of aid provided by the rich countries to poor countries (compared to about 15 billion in 2022).

However, the method of collecting and sharing money became a subject of disagreement between the great powers and the rest of the world, to the point that it left the Kali talks on November 2 without an agreement, forcing it to resume negotiations in Rome at the “FAO” headquarters.

After two days of negotiations, against the backdrop of the deterioration of international relations and commercial wars, the negotiators received, last Wednesday, a new text offered by the Colombian presidency, seeking to reduce the gap between the northern and southern countries.

On Thursday, Brazil, on behalf of the BRICS group, presented a new text closer to a proposal in a final formula, during the closing session on Thursday night.

The main thorny point is the demand of poor countries to create a new fund dedicated to biological diversity placed under the authority of the Conference of the Parties, as stipulated in the 1992 agreement.

But developed countries, led by the European Union, Japan and Canada – in the absence of the United States that did not expect the agreement, but a major donor – strongly opposed this proposal. These forces also condemn the seizure of development aid that originally declined due to financial crises, and the Americans’ retreat from supporting these efforts since Donald Trump’s return to power.

The Presidency of the Colombian “COPA 16” conference published today, a settlement proposal that includes a road map to reform the various systems that generate financial flows, aimed at protecting nature by 2030.

The document aims to “improve the performance” of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and under its authority, the Global Frame for Biodiversity (GBFF), a temporary solution adopted in 2022 and received modest funding ($ 400 million). It also states that the existing financial institution or that will be established, will eventually be placed under the authority of the Conference of the Parties.