Colombia: Global Biodiversity Summit to Be Hosted in October

On Wednesday, Colombia’s Minister of Environment Susana Muhamad announced that the Latin American country will host the 16th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 16) from Oct 21 to Nov 1.

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The announcement was made on the sidelines of the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) underway in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. "This is an opportunity for Colombia's indigenous communities to showcase a paradigm shift in the way the conservation of biodiversity should be undertaken globally," Muhamad said.

The Colombian minister added that COP 16 will be a mixture of cultural and environmental biodiversity from Latin American countries.

The launch of the logo of a fresh flower took place during the official announcement of Colombia's hosting of the UN biodiversity summit.

The tweet reads, "An everlasting flower, did you know that the Inírida flower can withstand long floods and droughts? It is the symbol of resilience! That is why this flower is the logo of the COP 16 in Colombia and, therefore, of Peace with Nature!"

David Cooper, acting executive secretary of the Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said that delegates will share experiences, find solutions, and inspire partnerships toward tackling global biodiversity loss. He noted COP 16 would allow local and indigenous communities to share their experiences and strengthen their links with biodiversity.

According to Cooper, indigenous communities in 13 ecoregions of Colombia and neighboring countries will share their knowledge of rare endemic species with the delegates. The COP 16 will accelerate action and show progress towards turning the four goals and 23 targets of the biodiversity plan into nationally driven action.

He said that the delegates are expected to demonstrate the alignment of their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans with the Biodiversity Plan.

The tweet reads, "Great meeting with the Chinese Minister of Ecology and outgoing president of COP15, Huang Runqiu, during UNEA6. His support and experience will be key to ensure the success of COP 16 Colombia in Cali this year."

Cooper revealed that the fourth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation, which will take place in Nairobi from May 21-29, will provide an opportunity to review progress five months before COP 16 gets underway in Cali, Colombia.

According to Cooper, COP 16 will be the first biodiversity summit since the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP 15 held in December 2022 in Montreal, Canada.

During COP 16, governments will review the state of implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, develop the monitoring framework, and advance resource mobilization for the Global Biodiversity Framework. In addition, the summit will finalize and operationalize the multilateral mechanism for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources.