Nature ‘Piracy,’ Funding Battles Will Dominate UN Biodiversity Summit
Countries, investors and lenders have gathered at COP16 in Colombia to try to reverse the global decline of the biosphere.
A capuchin monkey at a wildlife refuge in Colombia.
Photographer: Ivan Valencia/BloombergDelegates from almost 200 countries are gathering this week in Cali, Colombia, for the biennial United Nations summit on biodiversity, the first one since the landmark Global Biodiversity Framework was signed in Montreal in December 2022.
Nature is disappearing at an alarming rate. Over the past 50 years, wildlife populations have shrunk by almost three-quarters, according to the latest research by WWF. The decline is happening so fast that the world is approaching possibly irreversible tipping points. The planet is in a “critical situation,” said Susana Muhamad, COP16 president and Colombia’s environment minister.