This year, we’ll be attending COP16 – here’s what it is and why we’ll be going.
This year marks the 16th COP of the CBD – that’s short for Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
It’s a bi-yearly global meeting, first established in 1994, where delegates from 195 countries and the EU come together to discuss the biodiversity crisis and make plans to tackle it.
This year, the event will take place in Colombia from 21 October to 1 November, and the theme will be ‘Peace with Nature’. Over 15,000 delegates are expected to attend, from government officials to NGOs, private sector actors and more.
The last biodiversity COP, COP15, in December 2022 was a turning point for nature: the countries (often referred to as parties) in attendance agreed on a landmark global action plan to halt and reverse the loss of nature by 2030. The plan is known as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and is underpinned by:
If the plan is effectively implemented globally, it could genuinely turn the tide of nature loss.
And at COP16, the world will have the opportunity to see how countries have put their promises into action on the ground. We’re looking to see for example how countries are implementing action plans to bring species back from the brink, or how they are protecting and restoring ecosystems.
Want to know how COP16 is different from COP29. Head here.
Dr Mya-Rose Craig, writer and environmental campaigner said: “COPs are critical opportunities for the nations of the world to come together to discuss global challenges and to plan collaborative solutions. There aren't many other opportunities to get representatives from almost every country into one room!
"I'm particularly excited to be attending the biodiversity COP in Colombia this year. The RSPB's mission to give nature a voice is crucial at events such as this and I look forward to supporting them and their call for global promises to be put into action.”
The RSPB will be attending COP16. We’ll be holding our governments to account to ensure they drive the change we urgently need for nature, and for people. We will work very closely with our BirdLife International partners to engage in negotiations with parties, advocate for nature, build momentum for action and more.
Alongside our advocacy work, we will be at COP16 to demonstrate what good conservation looks like. For example, we’ll be running events with BirdLife partners from Liberia and Sierra Leone to showcase the pioneering forest conservation work in the Gola Rainforest. Here, we’ve been working with the governments and local communities of both countries to protect the forest and develop sustainable livelihoods.
We’re keen to inspire parties by showing them how their promises can be made possible.
We only have five years left to meet the major global commitments we all made for biodiversity.
To turn their promises into action, all parties need to submit their national targets, in line with the level of ambition in the global framework. Crucially, these targets need to be backed up by full plans of action to demonstrate exactly how they’ll reach them.
But so far, we know countries are way off track, with only about a third having submitted national targets, and far fewer putting forward their full detailed plans. So, we need some big achievements to come out of COP16.
At this COP, we need to work together to get clear on how to ramp up progress and move forward much more urgently. That means nailing down discussions on finance and monitoring to support action.
We need the new UK Government to show leadership; that means sending a senior delegation, taking action to meet their financing commitments, and committing to show how their promises will be delivered in a detailed plan. UK countries are some of the most nature depleted in the world, so we have a responsibility to turn the tide.
To discover more detail about what’s needed for UK leadership at COP16, checkout our blog here: COP16: Time to get back on track for nature - Nature’s Advocates - Our work - The RSPB Community.
The biodiversity crisis is a global problem which requires global action, with countries working collaboratively to deliver transformative change for the sake of all people and planet.
