Highlights and images for 17 December 2022

A stocktaking plenary was the highlight of the day. Delegates heard reports from ministerial consultations on the global biodiversity framework (GBF), digital sequence information (DSI), resource mobilization, and a plan on the way forward as proposed by the Presidency of the Conference of the Parties (COP).

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Many were surprised to hear a clear proposal on DSI from Maisa Rojas, Minister for the Environment of Chile, and Espen Barth Eide, Minister of Climate and Environment of Norway. Crafted following extensive consultations, the Ministers said, the proposal envisages establishment of a multilateral benefit-sharing mechanism at this meeting, including provisions on respecting existing national arrangements, together with an intersessional Working Group to address the mechanism’s modalities. Not all parties will like it, ministers said, underscoring however that agreement is “within the realm of the possible.”

On resource mobilization, things were not as clear. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, Minister of Environment of Rwanda, and Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, noted that regional groups are largely in agreement with the overall amount of USD 200 billion annually by 2030 regarding global financial resources for biodiversity, including funding from all sources. Divergences however remain, they said, on the funding structure. Consultations thus continue on whether to create a new fund, focus on improving the processes of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), or establish a dedicated biodiversity fund to be administered by the GEF.

On the GBF, things were even less clear. Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment of Egypt, and Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada, reported that consultations continue, while progress has been achieved on parts of the draft.

COP President Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment of China, announced that a President’s text will be available at 8:00 am on Sunday, for consultation with heads of delegation, in an attempt to forge consensus. The text will address: the GBF and its monitoring framework; resource mobilization; DSI; planning, monitoring, reporting, and review; and capacity-building, and technical and scientific cooperation.

Meanwhile, the high-level segment concluded with a closing plenary. Participants heard reports from the major events held parallel to COP 15, including the fifth Science-Policy Forum, and the Nature and Culture Summit, as well as from different constituencies who outlined their contribution to implementation of the GBF.

Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Chair of the Sharm El-Sheikh to Kunming to Montreal Action Agenda for Nature and People, reported on activities under the Action Agenda and the momentum created for a whole-of-society implementation of the GBF. In an intergenerational dialogue, elder Lucy Mulenkei, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, and Hector Alan Valdés Suárez, Global Youth Biodiversity Network, pleaded for an inclusive and restorative GBF, which fosters collaboration between living generations and looks after future generations.