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From Vox
Summary
COP16, the UN biodiversity summit, is taking place in Cali, Colombia, where global leaders will evaluate progress on a groundbreaking deal from COP15 aimed at halting biodiversity loss by 2030. The summit will address critical funding gaps and management of digital sequence information related to genetic data. Despite the urgency, countries are falling short on meeting conservation targets, with many failing to submit necessary plans.
Highlights -🌍
- Importance of COP16: A meeting focused on global biodiversity and conservation efforts.
- COP15 Legacy: Established 23 targets to halt biodiversity loss by 2030.
- Progress Assessment: Countries will check their advancements toward these targets.
- Funding Challenges: Discussions will focus on bridging a significant funding gap for conservation.
- US Involvement: The US remains a non-member of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Starting this week, thousands of people will descend on the Colombian city of Cali for an important meeting you may have never heard of: COP16.
This event is a big deal.
Commonly known as the UN biodiversity summit, COP16 is a meeting of government official from around the world — likely including some heads of state — to figure out how to stop ecological collapse. COP, which stands for “conference of the parties,” brings together environmental leaders and officials from countries that are part of the Convention on Biological Diversity, a global treaty under the UN to conserve nature. They meet every other year to push forward a conservation agenda.
The last summit, known as COP15, was arguably much more important. During the event, held in 2022, nearly all countries of the world agreed on a groundbreaking new deal to halt biodiversity loss by 2030. The deal has 23 targets, including conserving at least 30 percent of land and oceans and reducing annual subsidies that harm ecosystems by at least $500 billion. Experts hailed it as the Paris agreement for nature, the global treaty to combat climate change.
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