This week, environmental leaders from nearly 200 countries gathered in Cali, Columbia, to assess how to halt and reverse the loss of nature. COP16, or the UN Biodiversity Conference, focuses specifically on biodiversity and conservation, as global wildlife populations have shrunk by an average of nearly 75 per cent in the last 50 years.

This year’s conference follows on from the 2022 Montreal meeting where 196 countries signed the Kumming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, an ambitious treaty to halt the loss of nature. One of the key targets in this agreement was to protect 30% of land and water for nature by 2030. This year’s conference will measure the progress of this treaty and negotiate new agreements to prevent biodiversity loss.

With critical discussions taking place on funding climate action, countries clashed over the future of global fund for nature protection, with a group of developing nations pushing to establish a new fund. The fund for projects to conserve and restore nature was set up at the last summit but has struggled to attract large contributions. Some developing countries are looking for more control in how the fund is managed so that it is easier to access it’s resources.

Brazilian negotiator André Aranha Corrêa do Lago said, “Biodiversity finance should be flowing to where biodiversity is. The voice of countries bearing a greater burden should count more than it does in the GEF governance system”.

Finance is also expected to play a major role in the upcoming COP29 as global environmental leaders try to define a new target for monetary support to address the climate crisis.

In Irish news:

• The Irish government has assembled the new Just Transition Commission to ensure that decarbonisation is achieved in a socially fair and equitable way, with sustainability professional Ali Sheridan chosen as its chair.
• The Climate Change Advisory Council warns that the cost of falling short on Ireland’s 2030 climate targets could exceed €8 billion, as it calls for significant action to end reliance on fossil fuels.
• TG4 have integrated solar power to their energy supply with the capability to power the station entirely with renewable energy and paving the way for sustainable broadcasting.

In other world news:

• London’s High Court ruled Britain’s new climate adaption strategy set out by the Conservative Government as lawful, dismissing Friends of the Earth’s landmark legal challenge against it.
• The carbon credit standards body defends policies on conflicts of interest after a former board member and client was charged with fraud in the US involving credits it had certified.
• A recent report found that there is a gender rift on climate change among young Americans as Gen Z women are more worried about global warming than their male peers.