Leaders and representatives from nearly every country on earth are gathering in Colombia to take stock of global progress in protecting the natural world.
The United Nations biodiversity summit, known as COP16, is taking place amid growing concerns about plummeting plant and animal populations, and damage to the habitats that sustain life on Earth, from forests to rivers and oceans.
At the last UN World Summit on Biodiversity, held in December 2022, almost 200 countries signed an ambitious plan to reverse nature loss by the end of the decade.
The summit in Cali is expected to be the largest of its kind – and the first opportunity to hold leaders to account for their national wildlife protection plans.
What is biodiversity and why is it important?
Biodiversity is the diversity of all life on Earth: animals, plants, fungi and micro-organisms such as bacteria.
Together they provide us with everything necessary to survive – including fresh water, clean air, food and medicine.
However, humans cannot derive these benefits from individual species; a rich variety of living things must work together.
Plants are of great importance for improving the physical environment: purifying the air, limiting temperature rise and providing protection against climate change.
Mangrove swamps and coral reefs can form a barrier against erosion due to rising sea levels.
Trees found in cities such as the London plane tree or the tulip tree are excellent at absorbing carbon dioxide and removing pollutants from the air.
How many species are threatened with extinction?
It is normal for species to evolve and become extinct over time – 98% of all species that have ever lived are now extinct.
However, species extinction is now happening a hundred to a thousand times faster than scientists would expect.
As a result, many scientists warn that humans could cause Earth’s “sixth mass extinction.”
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has maintained a ‘red list’ of threatened species since 1964. More than 163,000 species have been assessed, and 45% are threatened with extinction.
The UN biodiversity body – known as IPBES – estimates that at least a million plant and animal species are at risk of extinction – and that is largely humanity’s fault.
But the threat of extinction varies greatly. For example, it is estimated that 40% of amphibians (a group that also includes frogs and toads) are at risk.
In addition, for some groups – such as insects and fungi – insufficient species have been evaluated to accurately assess the risk.
What are the biggest threats to biodiversity?
In a recent report, IPBES highlights the damage caused by harvesting, logging, hunting and overfishing.
Between 2001 and 2021, the world lost 437 million hectares of forest area, of which 16% was primary forest. The destruction of mature forests, which have taken hundreds, if not thousands, of years to develop, can have a very serious impact on biodiversity.
According to the WWF, biodiversity is being lost worldwide.
Recent losses have been greatest in Latin America, where animal populations have declined by 95%, mainly due to habitat destruction and overexploitation.
The Natural History Museum in London says Britain is one of the most nature-deprived countries in Europe and in the bottom 10% globally.
The pace of climate change is also becoming increasingly difficult for animals and plants to cope with, the UN warns.
It is argued that limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is important to prevent even greater losses of biodiversity.
What have the countries agreed to do to address this problem?
At the UN’s COP15 biodiversity summit in December 2022, countries reached a ‘historic’ agreement to protect 30% of the planet’s land and seas by 2030.
The agreement – officially known as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework – aims to “halt and reverse” biodiversity decline by 2030, and for people to live “in harmony with nature” by 2050 to “benefit that are essential for all people’.
It has four main purposes:
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better conservation of ecosystems and species
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resources are used as sustainably as possible
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a more equal distribution of natural resources
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more financial support for biodiversity protection
There are a further 23 specific targets for 2030, including mechanisms to finance conservation projects in biodiversity hotspots. Governments and private organizations pledge to donate at least $200 billion per year by 2030.
As part of this, richer countries have pledged to increase the amount of money they give to poorer countries for biodiversity projects to $30 billion per year by 2030.
Although the 2022 framework was not legally binding, signatories committed to showing progress towards achieving biodiversity targets.
What is COP16?
From October 21 to November 1, delegates will meet in Cali, Colombia, to take stock of national pledges to protect nature, amid concerns that countries are not living up to their promises.
Recent analyzes show that most countries will miss the deadline for submitting new national action plans for nature conservation.
Key issues include the scale of ambition in achieving specific targets, financing biodiversity projects in poorer countries and ensuring that profits from genetic resources are shared fairly.
Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad, who is overseeing the meeting, has chosen the theme “Peace with Nature,” a call to rethink our relationship with the natural world.
Several presidents are expected to attend, including Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Mexico’s new president Claudia Sheinbaum.
