Jelle Behagel on the biodiversity summit: what’s at stake?

During the summit, all signatories to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will negotiate a range of issues. What is at stake?

The most important negotiations already took place two years ago, when a new Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was adopted. One of the most important targets of the GBF is to protect 30% of the earth’s surface by 2030. Many call this summit an 'implementation summit', because its focus should be on how to achieve the targets that were set two years ago, and not to renegotiate these. Still, there are a few things at stake. There will be a lot of focus on finance strategies for nature. The EU and other countries who are expected to financially support implementation of the GBF, for example via Official Development Assistance (ODA), want businesses, financial institutions and philanthropic organisations to contribute as well. Moreover, they also want biodiverse nations to seek national funding for conservation plans. Another hot topic on the agenda is Digital Sequencing Information (DSI). Digital information, like DNA sequences, is extracted from plants or animals that are usually native to countries in the global South. This information is then for example used to create new medicines in countries in the global North. How are such benefits shared with the countries where that DNA was sequenced? Countries from the global South are adamant about having a benefit-sharing mechanism to be agreed on during this summit.

What role will the Netherlands play at the summit?

The Netherlands is an integral part of the EU delegation and will closely coordinate with the 26 other EU countries to emphasise the development of good National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and finance strategies to implement the GBF. However, the Netherlands itself has not yet submitted an NBSAP. Moreover, it will not be represented by a member of government during the summit, which is disappointing. Still, we may expect an active representation of the Netherlands at the summit. Many Dutch scientists, nature conservation organisations, businesses, and financial institutions will be present. They are there to find better and new ways to protect nature and to do it on a larger scale. For example, one of the Wageningen scientists who is visiting is prof. Marielos Peña Claros, who is also co-director of the Science Panel for the Amazon and working with partners to find and scale up local strategies to protect the Amazon.

In the climate negotiations, many people know about the 1,5-degree Celsius target. The target for biodiversity is to be 'nature-positive' by 2030, meaning that we reverse the trend of nature loss towards gain. Will that be achieved?

I am afraid not, although I would be happy if proven wrong. Similar to what we see with climate change, where 1,5 degrees Celsius is almost a reality already and where global greenhouse gas emissions are not relenting, the 30% target for protecting the earth’s surface will not be sufficient to reverse the trend of biodiversity loss. A recent report of the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency indicates that for this to happen we also need to address the more fundamental drivers of biodiversity loss. Such drivers include high (or over-) consumption of agricultural commodities such as beef, soy, or palm oil. There are positive examples where such drivers are addressed, such as the new EU deforestation regulation that prohibits a set of commodities from entering the EU market if they are implicated in deforestation. Still, at a global scale we do not see much progress on this topic yet.

The Colombian government is hosting a 'summit for the people', in addition to the formal event for government and other UN delegates. What is this all about?

The formal Conference of the Parties will indeed take place in the 'blue zone', but there will also be a 'green zone' that is publicly accessible to all. The organisers expect around 150.000 people to visit, and you can already see that all the hotels are fully booked. The event will include many activities, including music, art, workshops, debate, project exhibits, and so on. So, it looks like it will definitely be a big party, but that is not all that it is. The Colombian government really wants to include multiple voices: those of citizens, but also of indigenous communities who live in or close to nature and have a strong track record of protecting their territories against biodiversity loss. The idea of a summit for the people is therefore most of all an attempt to get more people involved in nature conservation.