Capturing COP17

Capturing COP17: Where there's a will there's a way?

Photo credits: Scotty Turner (Unsplash)

"We know where we are. We know where the gaps are. Our meeting here is about closing them." -Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity

It has been five days since COP17 opened. This year's conference is especially important. It is the first-ever global review to assess how well countries have collectively fared in acting on the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)'s targets.

The GBF is a voluntary international agreement that aims to halt and reverse global biodiversity loss by 2030, by hitting 23 outlined targets that support this goal.

The Macaw View's first YouTube feature expands on what those targets are, what progress we've made, and why we should be more serious - but not nihilistic - about meeting them.

How effective has the GBF been?

The State of Biodiversity Action report, the first global report on the GBF's implementation progress, set the foundation for discussions.

The good: it finds that the GBF has encouraged "unprecedented" efforts towards safeguarding global biodiversity, with efforts being made in each of the 23 targets.

The bad: we are going way too slow to meet the 2030 targets. Gaps and barriers identified in the report will have to be addressed urgently, swiftly and on a large scale to achieve them.

Below are some key takeaways from discussions from this week in Yerevan.

The big question: money

Like climate, biodiversity funding debates revolve around who should pay, how they should pay and how much they should pay. Parties have called for greater support and innovation in biodiversity finance plans.

The GBF calls for the mobilisation of at least 200bn USD per year for biodiversity by 2030. Biodiversity financing is falling extremely short of that.

Take the Cali Fund, for example, which was established at the last COP. The Fund invites companies benefitting from digital sequence information to contribute some of their profits back into the communities and countries that protect biodiversity. Total payments to the Fund? 7,085 USD, compared to its aim to raise 1bn USD per year, according to the Guardian.

One area that received quite a bit of attention was biosafety. Biosafety under the Cartegena Protocol is defined as the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms produced by modern biotechnology in a way that safeguards biodiversity and is not harmful to human health.

Parties agreed to further discussion of establishing or strengthening predictable funding channels for biosafety. They also agreed to encourage contributions to the ninth replenishment of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) financial mechanism that donor countries pay into and which developing countries receive grants from.

Even with measures that have improved the financial mechanism in some aspects, Tanzania pointed out that developing countries still face the issue of accessing those funds predictably.

Not all countries have equal access or capacity to meet GBF goals

Parties raised concerns about the fact that developing countries have uneven access, capacity and support in achieving the 23 targets by 2030.

For example, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety allows countries to consider the social and economic impacts of living modified organisms on conservation and sustainable biodiversity use. Delegates this week agreed to request support for regional capacity-building to help facilitate this, with voluntary use of the guidance. It was approved by Working Group II and awaits adoption.

Education and gender-inclusive approaches

Despite how critical global biodiversity action is, public awareness and understanding is lagging. On Thursday, Working Group I agreed to language inviting voluntary use of a previously drafted global plan of action for biodiversity education.

One of the GBF's 2030 targets is also ensuring that women and girls have equal access and opportunity to contribute to the CBD's implementation of the GBF. A draft decision text was approved on the midterm review of the Gender Plan of Action's implementation. That also awaits adoption.

The week ahead

On Monday, UN officials and the COP17 President will brief journalists on negotiations progress, outstanding issues and decisions required to meet the 2030 goal of halting and reversing biodiversity loss.

A high-level session with ministers will be held from 27-28 October.

Delegates will also seek to finalise the "Yerevan Pathway", which aims to lay out a roadmap for accelerating progress on global biodiversity action.

The conference concludes next week, on 30 October.