The 16th UN CBD COP16 (Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity) was held from 21st October to 1st November at Cali, Colombia. Two years after the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the conference set the agenda for conservation of biodiversity for this decade and beyond.
Governments, indigenous peoples and local community groups, youth organisations, academic and research institutions, private sector actors, and non-governmental organisations convened to steer a common goal and agenda for conservation of biological diversity through bilateral engagements, negotiation sessions, contact group meetings and side events around the 23 targets of Biodiversity Framework.
The 16th UN CBD COP16 (Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity) was held from 21st October to 1st November at Cali, Colombia. Two years after the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the conference set the agenda for conservation of biodiversity for this decade and beyond.
Governments, indigenous peoples and local community groups, youth organisations, academic and research institutions, private sector actors, and non-governmental organisations convened to steer a common goal and agenda for conservation of biological diversity through bilateral engagements, negotiation sessions, contact group meetings and side events around the 23 targets of Biodiversity Framework.
I visited a local primary school, Institucion Educativa Republica De Israel to speak about the importance of protecting wild places. Here, I encouraged vision dreaming, and boarding and drawing exercises.
I also had the opportunity to attend the Global Landscapes Forum, a parallel event at COP16, on sustainable financing mechanisms for biodiversity. I connected and met with fellow scholars from the University of Oxford, sharing and discussing academic prospects, key takeaways, and programming that each of us had followed throughout the Conference. Among the delegates from the University of Oxford present was Melissa Felipe, a WHT Alumna who was keen on following negotiations, discussions and engagements on galvanising and building support for women in Conservation through the CBD Women’s caucus.
Overall, the conference strengthened my position that informed conservation policy is the key to delivering the ambitious (and rightly so) agenda of Conservation of Biological Diversity and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
