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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/03/cop16-ends-in-disarry-and-indecision-despite-biodiversity-breakthroughs>
"A global summit on halting the destruction of nature ended in disarray on
Saturday, with some breakthroughs but key issues left unresolved.
Governments have been meeting in Cali, Colombia, for the first time since a
2022 deal to stop the human-caused destruction of life on Earth. Countries
hoped to make progress during the two-week summit on crucial targets such as
protecting 30% of the Earth for nature and reforming parts of the global
financial system that damage the environment.
Negotiations were due to finish on Friday evening but ended in confusion on
Saturday morning after almost 12 hours of talks. Governments failed to reach a
consensus on key issues such as nature funding and how this decade’s targets
would be monitored. Many were forced to leave the talks early to catch flights,
and negotiations were suspended at 8.30am when fewer than half of the countries
were present, and the meeting lost quorum. Countries will need to continue the
talks next year at an interim meeting in Bangkok.
A number of countries expressed fury at the way the talks had been dragged out
and the order of discussions, which left crucial issues undecided at the final
hour.
“We really question the lack of legitimacy of discussing such an important
issue at the end of the Cop,” the Brazilian negotiator Maria Angelica Ikeda
said, shortly before discussions of resource mobilisation were cut off. “We
should have started discussing these issues at the beginning … We should have
decisions guaranteeing that we have the resources we need.”
The negotiator for Fiji, Michelle Baleikanacea, emphasised that many developing
nations – who did not have budgets to change flight plans – were forced to
abandon the meeting. “Unfortunately Fiji is the only remaining Pacific island
country present at this Cop – we came as a delegation of 10 and I am the only
one left. We cannot afford to be changing flights because we don’t have the
funds,” she said."
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
