COP16 – A one year sprint for nature

Cali, Colombia 02 November 2024

The COP16 nature summit has highlighted the fact that countries have not met the expectations of the Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted two years ago.

Therefore, much of the negotiation has centered on how to revitalize the global effort for the protection of global biodiversity, including it’s hotspots such as tropical rainforests.

"COP16 is the start of a sprint towards next year's climate summit in Brazil. The key to success is more money for nature conservation. ‘Rich countries must manage to find more support in their state budgets and give clear guidelines to private sector so that investments are shifted from nature-damaging to nature-enhancing solutions," says Toerris Jaeger, Executive Director of Rainforest Foundation Norway.

One of the key discussions in Cali has been to find a way to tax the use of nature's genetic material in medicines, cosmetics, biotechnology, and agriculture. The revenue from this genetic material will benefit the ‘owners’ in the areas and population groups where the material originates. After lengthy negotiations, the parties agreed on a genetic information fee of 0.1 percent of companies' revenues from products derived from such information.

"Many of the life-saving medicines we use today come from the rainforest. It is therefore right that a portion of the income companies generate from this information goes back to protect nature. This is the absolute highlight from COP16," Jaeger continues.

A significant boost for Indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples and other forest peoples have been at the center of the nature negotiations. COP16 established a permanent subsidiary body for Indigenous peoples and local communities under the Convention on Biological Diversity. This ensures Indigenous peoples a place at the table, also during future negotiations.

Additionally, parts of the international nature financing are earmarked for Indigenous peoples' management of nature, including half of the revenue from the new gene information tax.

"Indigenous peoples and local communities are nature's best guardians. It is therefore reassuring to see that they are increasingly recognized for these efforts," Jaeger says.

In a few days, the world will meet in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, for a climate summit, and next year's climate negotiations will take place in Belem, close to the Brazilian rainforest.

"Colombia has been a driving force in revitalizing international efforts for nature protection, and we expect Brazil to do the same in the run-up to next year's climate summit. The world has a unique opportunity with these summits that we must grasp so that the rainforest gets the protection it deserves," says Toerris Jaeger, Secretary General of Rainforest Foundation Norway.