COP16: Parties reach last-minute deal on funding to prevent biodiversity loss
Countries at the UN’s resumed COP16 biodiversity summit in Rome have reached a last-minute compromise on funding to halt biodiversity loss. There will be a five-year plan to release the billions of dollars needed and better distribute the money.
The Kunming-Montreal Agreement, known as the Peace Pact with Nature, was adopted in 2022. Its main goal is to protect 30 per cent of the world’s land and sea surface by 2030.
This would protect ecosystems and wildlife that humans rely on for food, climate regulation and economic prosperity. Thursday’s deal is a compromise on how to fund that objective, after talks initially failed at the summit held in Cali, Colombia, late last year.
The agreed ambition is to mobilise at least 200 billion dollars a year by 2030. Wealthy countries would provide 30 billion dollars. Countries must also reduce damage caused to nature by at least 500 billion dollars by 2030.
Geopolitical uncertainty
The last-minute deal was greeted with a standing ovation. “The applause is for all of you. You have done an amazing job,” said COP16 president Susana Muhamad of Colombia.
Posting on X, she called it a “historic day for biodiversity”. “We achieved the adoption of the first global plan to finance the conservation of life on Earth.”
A series of rules and indicators have also been adopted to measure efforts to protect biodiversity. A new fund overseen by the summit, as demanded by African countries, will not be decided until COP18 in 2028 at the earliest.
“Our efforts show that multilateralism can present hope at a time of geopolitical uncertainty,” said Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s Environment minister.
The COP16 took place in Cali in October and November last year, without agreement on issues including a monitoring framework and funding. The resumed session in Rome focused on the unresolved items.
Colombian Environment minister Susana Muhamad (C) at the COP16 biodiversity conference at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization headquarters in Rome, 25 February 2025 © PHOTO ALBERTO PIZZOLI / AFP
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