Highlights and images for 1 November 2024

It was a long journey. The last day of the meeting had it all and ended in suspension. Following painstaking negotiations in the Working Groups, closed-door deliberations on the main agenda items, joy and drama in plenary, and early-morning negotiations on the budget, COP President Susana Muhamad suspended the meeting at 8:27 am on Saturday morning.

On Friday morning, Working Group II continued addressing draft decisions. Several issues remained outstanding including on conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity, and on biodiversity and climate change. The contact group on the financial mechanism finalized its deliberations, addressing submissions from other contact groups and an annex containing further guidance to the Global Environmental Facility.

Working Group I met in the afternoon and addressed a series of draft decisions, including on: the monitoring framework of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework; communication, education, and public awareness; cooperation with other conventions and processes; and the financial mechanism. Several issues remained outstanding across the Working Group’s agenda. Consultations were held throughout the day on digital sequence information (DSI), resource mobilization, and the budget.

Plenary began after 10:00 pm. In view of the upcoming retirement of Deputy Executive Secretary David Cooper, Bilal Qtishat, Jordan, and Lucy Mulenkei, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, presented him with parting words and gifts on behalf of parties and Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs), expressing their deep appreciation for his work over the last thirty years. Participants also expressed their appreciation to the retiring Secretariat officer Neil Pratt.

In a historic moment, participants celebrated the decision to establish a subsidiary body on Article 8(j) and related provisions of the Convention on matters related to IPLCs, as well as the decision on the role of people of African descent in the implementation of the Convention. Following several rounds of consultations, they adopted a decision on the operationalization of the multilateral benefit-sharing mechanism from use of DSI and establishment of the Cali Fund, aiming to bridge at least part of the biodiversity finance gap and reward the stewards of biodiversity. The proposed decision on resource mobilization included a provision establishing a dedicated global financing instrument for biodiversity under the authority of the COP. This was not accepted by developed countries.

At 8:15 am on Saturday morning, Panama requested to check whether quorum requirements were met. COP President Susana Muhamad announced that quorum was not met and suspended the meeting at 8:27 am before adoption of the budget and with some decisions pending.