Summit calls for more action to protect planet
Environmental leaders from some 190 countries are currently gathered in Cali, Colombia to agree on a path forward to safeguarding the planet.
Considered the world’s most important event to conserve biodiversity, the UN summit known as COP16 will close on Nov 1.
Aiming to promote international cooperation, agree on investments to protect ecosystems and strengthen global 
environmental policies, COP16 takes as its roadmap the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework (GBF), a landmark plan to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity for 2030, adopted at COP15 in Canada in 2022.
Delegates will discuss how to restore rapidly degrading lands and seas in a way that protects the planet and respects the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.
A key goal will be to fully implement the so-called ‘30 by 30’ Kunming-Montreal pledge to protect 30 per cent of the planet’s lands and inland waters, as well as of marine and coastal areas, by 2030.
These include countries setting 30 per cent of their territories aside for conservation, slashing subsidies for businesses that harm nature and mandating that companies report their environmental effect.
During the summit’s opening ceremony, Secretary-General António Guterres urged delegations to “make peace with nature” and shore up plans to stop habitat loss, save endangered species, and preserve our planet’s precious ecosystems.
In a video message the UN Chief said: “the framework is grounded in a clear truth – for humanity to survive, nature must flourish ... it promises to reset relations with Earth and its ecosystems.”
Guterres underscored that delegations must leave Cali with significant investments in the GBF, its related funds and commitments to mobilize other sources of public and private finance to deliver on its goals in full.
“We have a plan to rescue humanity from a degraded Earth …”
He added that he looked forward to seeing delegates in person at the end of the COP “to hear how you have delivered”.
The Minister of Environment in Colombia, and President of COP16, Susana Muhamad, highlighted that “Colombia has become the epicentre of global climate action, uniting leaders and experts to address the greatest challenge of our era: protecting our planet and ensure a sustainable future”.
“Understanding that if we safeguard all forms of life, we are safeguarding ourselves, we erect a principle of peace with
Susana Muhamad presenting the National Biodiversity Action Plan of Colombia at COP 16.
nature, which also means the search for peace among the villages,” she added, while the blue flag of the United Nations waved where the meeting is taking place.
Colombia’s former environmental minister, Manuel Rodríguez Becerra, told UN News that one of the main challenges is to ensure that countries make more significant progress on their action plans.
“Only 20 per cent of countries have presented these national plans two years [after] COP15, where this global framework was agreed. We hope that, during COP16 in Cali, many countries will present their national plans or will be very ready. There is still a fallacy that we must recognize and that is why it is so important that progress is made in the monitoring system to follow through on achieving the goals that have been set,” he said.
ABOUT THE HOST NATION:
Colombia is considered one of the most biodiverse countries in the world with 311 types of continental and marine ecosystems per square kilometers.
Home to more than one thousand species of birds, four thousand species of orchids, and with 53 per cent of its territory covered by forests, Colombia’s selection as COP16 host highlights the importance of the region in the global biodiversity agenda and the fundamental role it plays in the protection of ecosystems.