There will be a new payment for wealth from the desert

The COP16 Biodiversity Conference in Cali, Colombia ended with controversial conclusions. During the two weeks of negotiations, states from around the world agreed on some basic moves in the strategy of how to protect the world’s biodiversity, but in the end the discussions involved and some topics didn’t even make it to the table.

The main mission of the summit was to agree on specific procedures and methods to achieve the goals set at the Biodiversity Summit in Montreal in 2022.

There, the states agreed, among other things, to ensure that 30% of seas and land (the most conserved ecosystems) have at least some form of protection by 2030.

Another important decision of the previous conference was the agreement of 200 countries to finance projects for the protection of biodiversity in poorer countries with richer countries, with the aim of sending them at least 20 billion dollars a year from 2025.

One of the long-awaited agreements, successfully concluded this month in Cali, concerns compensation for biological genetic information.

This proposal included the creation of a new “Cali Fund”, where pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies in particular, which benefit from genetic information obtained in the country, will contribute to the countries from did they get it, while these states are going to use this funding for nature restoration.

“Let’s say that a pharmaceutical company discovers a new drug as a result of genetic information from a wild plant found somewhere in the forest. The state where the forest is located should then receive a share of the profit. Countries need to be paid to take care of the wildlife, flora and fauna that exist,” he explained the main idea of ​​the proposal on his profile on the social network X environmental expert Vojtěch Kotecký.

The proposal is said to be at the top, according to Politico, “almost did not pass” after India suggested last-minute changes that Switzerland did not like. But after 11 hours, an agreement was finally reached on Saturday morning.

Contributions to the fund are not enforceable and it is up to the member countries to incorporate the agreement into their law, according to the British newspaper The Guardian, however. estimatesthat up to a billion pounds a year will go into it.

Another of the most important agreements that have been confirmed is the creation of a permanent organization at the United Nations, within a framework that representatives of the so-called indigenous peoples will have more opportunity to participate in the discussions on nature protection.

The main aim of this point is to ensure that the people who live in certain areas have a say in the nature conservation plans. International plans to protect highly diverse ecosystems are to be strengthened by the traditional knowledge of local indigenous peoples, thanks to a new UN agency.

In fact, representatives of indigenous peoples have been organizing informal working groups involved in UN negotiations for several years. “But now these groups are given permanent representation, so their ability to participate in the negotiations is no longer at the discretion of the state governments,” explained The Guardian about the meaning of the agreement.

In the end, the discussions on how to achieve that from next year the rich countries will pay the 20 billion dollars a year to the poorest countries for protection (almost no country yet. does not give your full “opportunity” portion).

The question was put on the agenda only on the last day of the meeting, but it was not answered even though the meeting lasted until Saturday morning. In the morning hours, according to the media, delegations from many countries started to leave the hall, and finally there were not enough present to vote on anything.

Lots of adjusters (especially from development countries) reportedly went straight to the airport, saying they had nothing to pay​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

So the conference ended late and early at the same time.

The disapproval of the integrated plan to enhance defense was not surprising, as several actors, for example the EU, announced their disapproval of the proposal before – hand, but due to long assumptions, the top did not have time to deal with it. other points anyway.

For example, the discussions on what the control and monitoring process should look like to achieve the main goals defined in Montreal two years ago, and several other important points of the program, failed.

Biodiversity conferences are held every two years. We can only expect further progress in 2026, when the summit is going to be in Armenia.