Geonoma at COP 16 – The COP of Biodiversity and People

The COP 16 on biological diversity took place between October 21 and November 1 and Geonoma was present, participating in partner panels, witnessing the negotiations between countries and experiencing this incredible experience that is bringing together, in person, people from all over the world, focused on the theme of conservation of biological diversity.

With the theme “Peace with Nature”, this COP was informally called “The People’s COP” which, in fact, expressed well its progress and results. This was the first COP after the signing of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022 at COP15, which established the 23 goals, including the famous goal 3 that aims at the effective conservation of at least 30% of all terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Goals on paper, COP 16 focused on the regulation and implementation of the Global Framework.

Some steps were taken, especially in the recognition of local communities, Afro-descendants and indigenous peoples as nature conservation agents and their proper integration into projects and resources that should be directed towards conservation. One of the main results was the creation of a permanent subsidiary body for Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and People of African Descent. In practice, a plenary of negotiations in which these communities will play a leading role in the technical orientation of biodiversity agreements.

But the “People’s COP” was not only expressed in the Blue Zone, an exclusive place of access for accredited delegations. The Green Zone, located in the center of Cali and open to all people, was a real success. The people of Cali embraced the event and it was common to see Colombians walking down the street in COP T-shirts, caps and brooches. The Green Zone was visited a lot by school groups and entire families, including their pets, who participated in immersive exhibitions with great enthusiasm (you could see the atmosphere of joy and attention to the environmental agenda).

Returning to the Blue Zone, COP 16 ended with many open themes and a clear disparity of opinion between the countries of the North and the global South. It was not possible to reach a consensus on the forms of financing and this topic will have to be reviewed in two years’ time at the next COP.

For Geonoma, it was a unique experience to witness the construction of international instruments that will guide concrete conservation actions. In addition, we were able to review friends, personally meet partners of projects that we had only seen online and, of course, publicize our work as executors of actions in biodiversity, after all, biodiversity is the root of Geonoma.

We went to the COP as part of the delegation of the Life Institute, since we are accredited as Expert Life Consultants, that is, we are qualified to apply the Life Key tool to institutions and companies that want to quantify their negative and positive impacts on biodiversity, and may even generate marketable biodiversity credits. But this is already a subject for another publication.