Cop16 nature summit agrees deal at 11th hour but critics say it is not enough

UN biodiversity conference in Rome ends with fragile accord but questions remain over whether funding will emerge

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”.

The decision comes more than two years after a landmark deal to slow the rampant destruction of nature this decade and protect at least 30% of the world’s land and seas. That would protect ecosystems and wildlife that humans rely on for food, climate regulation and economic prosperity.

The meeting comes as countries face a range of challenges, from trade disputes and debt worries to the slashing of overseas aid – particularly by the Trump administration.

Washington, which has not signed up to the UN’s convention on biological diversity, did not send representatives to the meeting.

But others at the summit expressed frustration at the agreement’s lack of ambition when it comes to the environmental crisis. The negotiator from Bolivia, Juan Carlos Alurralde Tejada, raised concerns about the text “diluting” commitments to biodiversity and opening the path to an “indefinite discussion” on who will pay for conservation and how to distribute the money.

“Biodiversity cannot wait for a bureaucratic process that lasts for ever, while the environmental crisis continues to get worse,” Alurralde said. “Forests are burning, rivers are in agony and animals are disappearing.”

Meanwhile, the overarching ambition to halt nature loss by 2030 is looking more difficult to reach, with global wildlife populations having plunged by more than 70% between 1970 and 2020, according to the most recent assessment, with no sign of slowing.

“Honestly, it’s almost impossible when you see the trends of where things are going,” said Max Fontaine, environment and development minister in Madagascar, one of the most biodiverse countries. “We are not going in the right direction, we all need to strengthen efforts.”

Five years to implement the biodiversity targets was not enough, said the Liberian negotiator, Datuama Cammue, who believed the UN process had been too slow. “It will take a lot of financial input and expert input to get it done. With this type of spirit, I really don’t think that it’s possible.”

The failure to finalise an agreement in Cali was the first in a string of disappointing outcomes at environmental summits last year.

A climate finance deal at Cop29 in Azerbaijan in November was criticised by developing countries as woefully insufficient, while separate negotiations about desertification and plastic pollution stalled in December.

Countries had already agreed to deliver $200bn (£159bn) a year in finance for nature by 2030, including $30bn a year from wealthier countries to poorer ones.

As of 2022 (the latest year for which data is available and before the Cop15 deal was signed), wealthy countries that signed the agreement had provided $10.95bn in biodiversity funding, according to the report by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and Campaign for Nature.

Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, Norway’s climate and environment minister, said countries had a “big, big job ahead” to meet the 2030 finance goal. “We have to do everything we can to meet those targets,” he said, adding that it was important to be ambitious in climate and biodiversity targets. He said: “Ambitious is not the same as impossible.”

Thursday’s decision sets out two main strands of action in the coming years – finding the extra billions of dollars in funding for biodiversity; and deciding on the institutions that will deliver the money.

Georgina Chandler, head of policy and campaigns at the Zoological Society of London, said the finance roadmap was a “key milestone” but stressed that money is needed urgently.

“With only five years left to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, securing the necessary funds to accomplish this mission is more essential than ever,” she said.

What has been agreed?

‘Agreeing to agree’ on a new fund

Many developing countries demanded a new bank account to distribute nature finance. They argue that the current fund – which sits within the Global Environment Facility (GEF) – is too burdensome to access and is controlled by wealthy nations. This was the subject of the most tense negotiations.

“Agreeing to agree is maybe not sexy,” said Bernadette Fischler Hooper, global advocacy lead at WWF, “but it is a big achievement.” She added: “We’re going to live to fight another day. That is exactly what that is about.”

Countries will agree what to do on the new fund in 2028. In the meantime, all options are on the table – it could be a new fund, or an existing fund that has been made more palatable.

Roadmap for producing cash

The headline figure agreed on by countries at Cop15 in 2022 was to generate $200bn a year in nature finance. Developed nations committed to delivering $20bn in international biodiversity finance by 2025 – a deadline that has not yet been met. Negotiators agreed a roadmap to raising the money, which includes looking for new forms of finance as well as a push for development banks to increase spending on biodiversity.

For the first time there will be an “international dialogue” between ministers of finance and environment (as happens within the UN climate framework) which will make sure that finance for biodiversity is not siloed within environmental ministries. Brian O’Donnell, director of Campaign for Nature, described it as a “highlight of this deal”.

Monitoring progress

Cop17 in 2026 will be about measuring how countries are doing relative to their targets. In Rome they signed off what indicators they will use to submit their national reports. “The monitoring framework will allow us to do the accountability process at the next Cop,” said Chandler.

Launch of Cali fund

The Cali fund is a way to distribute money from companies who benefit from nature’s genetics. The fund was launched with nothing pledged, but the UN said commitments were coming “very soon”. According to the agreement, companies that met two of three criteria – sales of more than $50m (£39m), profits of more than $5m, and $20m in total assets – would need to contribute 1% of profits or 0.1% of their revenue to the fund.

Cover photo:  A fisher paddles through wetlands in Accra, Ghana. Cop16 delegates stood and clapped as they reached a deal on nature conservation. Photograph: Muntaka Chasant/Rex/Shutterstock