UN nature talks yield modest progress, wildlife continues to bear the burden

Image by Penny from Pixabay

From 25-27 February, Born Free attended the resumed session of the 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16.2) in Rome, Italy. With your support, we did everything we could to engage in the negotiations, to ensure the voices of wild animals were heard at these crucial global talks. 
 
For three days, Parties and stakeholders to the so-called ‘Biodiversity Convention’ hammered out decisions on nature resourcing. They also agreed to a full set of indicators to monitor global and national progress towards achieving the 23 targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). This was adopted at COP15 in 2022 in an effort to halt and reverse the devastating global decline in nature and wildlife. Delegates also discussed associated planning, reporting and review mechanisms to ensure countries are held to account for its implementation.

Did the discussions offer good news for wild animals?

Amid the current complex global economic and geopolitical landscape, where multilateralism (multiple countries working towards the same goal) is frequently challenged, and given the failure of recent climate finance talks, the outcomes of the Rome meeting provide a glimmer of hope.

They send a positive signal to the international community, demonstrating an understanding by governments of their collective responsibility to address the worsening biodiversity crisis, and showing that consensus among nations with differing interests is still achievable.

However, these timid advances starkly contrast with the urgent challenges facing the world’s wildlife.

How was Born Free involved in CBD COP16?

Born Free attended the meeting to encourage governments and stakeholders to commit to implementing, enforcing and financing the ambitious actions needed to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2030, with the protection and welfare of wild animals at their core. Without transformative action to address the drivers of wildlife decline, such as the direct exploitation of wildlife and their habitats, humanity’s future remains in jeopardy.

What were the key outcomes of the meeting?

1. Biodiversity funding

The adoption of a new biodiversity financing architecture took centre stage. In the early hours of the morning on 28th February, following intense and lengthy negotiations, the world’s governments reached an agreement on a comprehensive strategy to mobilise the necessary funding for nature protection.

This strategy should help steer countries toward the previously agreed goals of generating $200 billion (£158 billion) annually and cutting financial incentives that harm nature by $500 billion (£394 billion) per year. The decision represents a pivotal milestone in closing the $700 billion (£552 billion) annual biodiversity funding gap by 2030, and it successfully concluded the UN Biodiversity Conference, COP16, which had ended without agreement in Cali, Colombia, in November 2024.

However, the path ahead is still long and difficult, as governments merely rubber stamped the roadmap to 2030, whilst decisions on funding sources and the operation of financial mechanisms were further delayed until 2028. Deep divisions among and between developed and developing countries persist on whether to reform existing instruments, including the Washington-based Global Environment Facility, or create a new one under the direct authority of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

2. The Cali Fund

The Rome meeting also launched the ‘Cali fund’, established for sharing the benefits derived from genetic data and to facilitate the use of industry profits to fund local biodiversity actions by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. National commitments and action to reverse wildlife declines are currently falling short.

3. National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans

In addition to concerns that developed nations are not on track to fulfil their commitment to raise $20 billion (£16 billion) by 2025 for developing countries, the majority of Parties to the Convention have not yet submitted their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs) or have submitted plans that lack the necessary ambition. Last week, the United Kingdom became the 46th country to submit its NBSAP, but most countries are off-track. It is alarming that 150 of the 196 countries signatories to the Convention are still to publish their strategy on how they plan to achieve the KMGBF targets.

Small steps were made to enable nations to track their commitments toward putting biodiversity on the road to recovery by 2030, and to strengthen cooperation with other intergovernmental processes.

4. Monitoring Frameworks

Also on the table, but contingent on the resource mobilisation talks, was the adoption of an updated Monitoring Framework, including a set of indicators for Parties to measure progress on the implementation of their national actions for biodiversity. This included agreement on an indicator to assess the impact of production and consumption on biodiversity.

However, governments are still failing to address blatant gaps in the indicator framework, including measures of the use and trade of wild species to ensure that efforts are directed towards reducing and eliminating high-risk activities, such as commercial wildlife markets, wildlife trade and other unsustainable and unsafe practices.

A global review of implementation is due at CBD COP17, scheduled to take place in Armenia in the autumn of 2026. It will be important for this review to be comprehensive, and inclusive of civil society input.

Born Free will continue to engage in the negotiations to ensure the voices of wild animals – too often silenced – are heard and accounted for in these crucial global talks.