Highlights and images for 25 February 2025

“The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is a public policy with the power to unite the world, especially in the current divided geopolitical landscape.” Colombia’s Susana Muhamad, President of the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), set the tone during the opening of the resumed session of the governing bodies of the CBD and its protocols, urging delegates to work collaboratively for a matter that “transcends our differences and interests: our capacity to sustain life on this planet.”

Want to dig deeper into today's talks? Read the full Earth Negotiations Bulletin daily report.

The first part of the conference, held from 21 October to 2 November 2024, in Cali, Colombia, was suspended due to loss of quorum during difficult negotiations on resource mobilization. As a result, a number of decisions were left pending under CBD COP 16, as well as the 11th Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CP MOP 11), and the fifth Meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol (NP MOP 5) on access and benefit-sharing (ABS).

Morning deliberations on resource mobilization focused on a President’s reflection note, published following intersessional consultations at the ministerial level, which identifies points of convergence and includes suggestions on the way forward. Discussions indicated persistent divergence of views between developed and developing countries. Disagreement centers on the efficiency of the global financial architecture with regard to biodiversity finance flows, the role of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the need for a dedicated financial instrument with fair and representative governance under the guidance and authority of the COP.  

Mirroring the debate in Cali, most developing countries called for establishing a dedicated financial instrument and ensuring the means of implementation required for achieving the GBF, highlighting the need to honor financial commitments. Most developed countries prioritized improving existing mechanisms, and broadening and diversifying finance sources, further supporting an intersessional process without prejudging any outcome. High-level informal consultations were held in the evening, aiming at building consensus on a process forward. 

In the afternoon, plenary addressed items related to monitoring and the financial mechanism. On the GBF monitoring framework, delegates approved compromise language on the indicator on pesticide environment concentration and/or aggregated total applied toxicity. Disagreement persisted on the component indicators on “global environmental impacts of consumption” and “ecological footprint” under GBF Target 16 (sustainable consumption). Informal consultations will continue on this item, as well as on outstanding matters regarding mechanisms for planning, monitoring, reporting, and review (PMRR), including the global review of collective progress in GBF implementation.

When it comes to the financial mechanism, plenary addressed outstanding items in the draft decision, while parking consideration of some paragraphs with direct links to ongoing discussions on resource mobilization.