On February 28, the global environmental crisis was addressed with a significant new agreement reached at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16) in Rome. Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s Minister of the Environment, was overcome with emotion as she wept following the conclusion of the final meeting. This poignant moment came after three long days of negotiations, where a delicate agreement was finally reached. There was a long road towards the agreement, with this second round of negotiations taking place in Rome after the first summit in Cali, Colombia, collapsed in November 2024.. The agreement details global collaboration on financing biodiversity and outlines a monitoring framework for the targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework. This deal represents a significant milestone in fostering international collaboration to achieve shared biodiversity goals. According to EU Commissioner for the Environment, Water Resilience, and a Competitive Circular Economy, Jessica Roswall, “We have secured a global roadmap to support financing for biodiversity beyond 2030”.
Muhamad described the deal as providing the “legs, arms, and muscles” to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The 2022 deal set goals to protect 30% of global land and sea areas and increase financing for biodiversity to $200 billion annually by 2030. The agreement reached in Rome in February sets out plans to fund these biodiversity goals, especially in poorer countries. However, the final text remains vague on the details of this new financial mechanism, and a final decision has been pushed back to 2028, meaning there is still work to be done.
Canada’s Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault stated that “achieving common ground in turbulent times” was accomplished at COP16. Ousseynou Kassé, a representative from Senegal, echoed this sentiment, highlighting that the outcomes of COP16 demonstrate a shared commitment to advancing multilateralism from all parties involved. Jessica Roswall says the deal
“is proof that multilateralism works, despite a difficult international geopolitical context and multiple global challenges.”
All parties agreed on a roadmap for mobilizing resources to close the biodiversity financing gap. The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) played a central role in the negotiations. An EU official said the European Union was “very satisfied” with the deal, attributing the positive outcome to close dialogue with the BRICS countries. The United States was notably absent from the negotiations, as it has never ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) since its creation in the 1990s, and therefore did not participate as a party to the convention. While the U.S. can still attend COP16, former President Joe Biden had sent dozens of federal employees to the 2024 conference in Cali, Colombia. However, at COP16 in Rome, the U.S. was not present as an observer.
Although the U.S. was not in attendance, the cooperation at COP16 in Rome set a positive tone, creating momentum for the global biodiversity plans’ future. For the first time, nations agreed to a “permanent arrangement” to provide biodiversity finance to developing nations. This “future proofing” of funds past 2030 is a way to guarantee that funds will be properly allocated to finance biodiversity projects to meet the 2030 goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and beyond.
Jessica Rosswall states, “These achievements show that despite a fragmented geopolitical landscape, the global community chose to come together to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.” The deal was achieved with “a spirit of compromise, openness and flexibility” that will remain essential in tackling the global environmental crisis in the future.
Edited by Lucy de Cartier
