COP16 delegates reach historic agreement to include indigenous voices in conservation decisions

CALI, Colombia (AP) — After two weeks of negotiations, delegates agreed Saturday to United Nations Conference on Biodiversity to establish a subsidiary body to include indigenous peoples in future conservation decisions, an important development that builds on a growing movement to recognize the role of indigenous peoples in protecting the earth and combating climate change.

Delegates also agreed to compel large corporations to share the financial benefits of research when using natural genetic resources.

Indigenous delegations erupted in cheers and tears after the historic decision to create the subsidiary body was announced. It recognizes and protects the traditional knowledge systems of indigenous peoples and local communities to benefit global and national biodiversity management, said Sushil Raj, executive director of the Global Rights and Communities Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society.

“It strengthens representation, coordination, inclusive decision-making and creates a space for dialogue with parties in the COP,” Raj told The Associated Press, referring to the meeting’s official name, the Conference of Parties.

Negotiators have struggled to find common ground on some key issues over the past week, but reached a consensus after talks began late Friday.

The COP16 summit, hosted in Cali, Colombia, was a follow-up to the historic 2022 Montreal agreement, which included 23 measures to save Earth’s plant and animal life, including putting 30 percent of the planet under protection and 30 percent from degraded ecosystems. until 2030.

A measure recognizing the importance of the role of people of African descent in the protection of nature was also adopted in Cali.

The indigenous body will consist of two co-chairs elected by the COP: one nominated by the UN parties of the regional group, and the other nominated by representatives of indigenous peoples and local communities, AP saw in the final document.

At least one of the co-chairs will be selected from a developing country, taking into account gender balance, the document said.

“Through this decision, the value of the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants and local communities is recognized and a 26-year-old historical debt in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is discharged,” Susana Muhamad, Colombian. environment minister and COP16 president, posted on social media platform X shortly after the announcement.

Who owns nature’s DNA was one of the most controversial and hotly negotiated topics at the summit, as tensions rose between poorer and developed countries over digital genetic sequence information (DSI).

However, negotiators agreed on Saturday morning to force big companies to share the benefits when they use resources from animals, plants or microorganisms in biotechnologies.

The delegations agreed on a genetic information tax of 0.1% of companies’ revenues from products derived from such information.

“Many of the life-saving medicines we use today come from the rainforest. Therefore, it is only fair that part of the revenue generated by companies from this information goes back to protecting nature,” said Toerris Jaeger, executive director of Rainforest Foundation Norway. “This is the absolute highlight of COP16.”

An agreement was also adopted to protect human health from the growing problems of Earth’s biodiversity. Ecosystem degradation and loss of ecological integrity directly threaten human and animal health, environmental groups say.

Pledges made by countries over the two weeks fell far short of the billions needed to tackle global biodiversity loss, with only about $400 million in the fund.

The modest commitments do not bode well for the next UN climate talks, COP29, to be held in Azerbaijan starting later this month. The focus of COP29 is expected to be on how to generate the trillions of dollars needed for the world to switch to clean energies such as solar, wind and geothermal. Raising that money will require major commitments from nations, companies and philanthropies.

At the Montreal Biodiversity Summit, rich nations pledged to raise $20 billion in annual conservation funding for developing nations by 2025, rising to $30 billion annually by 2030.

Global wildlife populations have declined by an average of 73 percent over 50 years, according to the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London’s October biennial Living Planet report.