<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/28/cop-16-climate-nature-funding-agreement>
"The task of halting nature loss by 2030 is slipping out of reach, ministers
have warned, as countries from around the world came to a hard-won compromise
on nature finance after marathon negotiations in Rome.
Delegates at the UN biodiversity conference – known as Cop16 – broke into
applause after finally reaching a deal in the Eternal City following a night of
tense and painstaking discussions. Cop16 president Susana Muhamad wept as she
brought down the gavel on the agreement outlining a roadmap for nature finance.
The agreement broke a deadlock at UN talks seen as a test for international
cooperation in the face of geopolitical tensions.
Despite some wins, difficult questions were kicked down the road, including the
creation of a new fund to distribute money, and significant issues including
nature-destroying subsidies and cutting pollution have not progressed.
Scientists have long warned that action is urgent. A million of the world’s
species are threatened with extinction, while unsustainable farming and
consumption destroy forests, deplete soils and spread plastic pollution to even
the most remote areas of the planet.
Key decisions were adopted in the final minutes of the last day of rebooted
negotiations at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization headquarters in
Rome.
Muhamad called it a “historic day”, and added: “We achieved the adoption of the
first global plan to finance the conservation of life on Earth.”
A number of leaders called the agreement a victory for cooperation. “Our
efforts show that multilateralism can present hope at a time of geopolitical
uncertainty,” said Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s minister of environment and
climate change.
Jean-Luc Crucke, Belgium’s climate and ecological transition minister, agreed.
“Today we are in a world that is politically changing,” he said. “And not
always in the right direction.”
He said that getting the agreement over the line proved that multilateralism
was still working, and added: “So there is a great significance to these
negotiations.”
Crucke described the Cop negotiations as the “least bad” process. If we really
want to save nature, he said, “there is no other solution than this one”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
