Q&A: What is Cop 16, and what does it aim to achieve?

What is Cop16?

It is the latest meeting — conference of the parties or Cop — under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which is the global agreement covering all aspects of nature and its sustainable use, ratified by almost 200 countries. It is colloquially known as the “Nature Cop” because it focuses on protecting and restoring biodiversity.

It runs from October 21 to November 1 and will be all about delivering on targets after the landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) was agreed in 2022 at the last Cop in Canada.

The KMGBF — or GBF —sets out a pathway to a world that lives in harmony with nature by 2050, through dozens of targets like the 30 by 30 goal for governments to designate 30% of Earth’s land and ocean area as protected areas by 2030.

What is up for discussion at Cop16?

The ultimate aim is to secure further agreements on efforts to tackle the global nature crisis. But more specifically, Cop16 will see governments tasked with reviewing the progress so far on implementing the KMGBF to protect and restore nature.

Major negotiation will revolve around individual nations’ updated plans - known as NBSAPs - monitoring progress, finance and sharing digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources.

What are NBSAPs?

As part of the 2022 agreement, countries agreed to submit updated versions of their individual implementation plans — known as National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) by Cop16.

NBSAPs are critical blueprints for how individual countries plan to tackle biodiversity loss, as well as ensure they meet the targets outlined in the GBF.

As part of the 2022 agreement, countries agreed to submit updated versions of their NBSAPs ahead of Cop16.

However, reports have claimed more than 85% of nations will miss the deadline due to issues like the lengthy consultation processes needed at home and general elections taking place across the world in 2024.

What else is up for discussion?

Of course, on the agenda again is the issue of money to pay for it all. Cop16 talks will also focus on further developing the monitoring framework to track global efforts on nature.

This year, there are expectations for a major agreement on the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources.

So is it like the climate Cops we keep having?

Yes, and no. Like the UN climate change Cops, the process was formed under one of the treaties agreed at the Rio Summit in 1992, although the big CBD meetings only happen once every two years, unlike the annual climate talks.

The two issues of climate and nature are closely interlinked, with destruction of habitats such as forests hitting wildlife and driving up carbon emissions, rising temperatures harming species, and solutions — such as restoring woodlands, peatland and mangroves — beneficial to both crises.

A key difference is the US is not a party to the treaty, only an observer, so there will not be the powerful US-China dynamic there is on climate change, and more influence from other countries — from the EU to African nations — in the talks.