Stalled Funding Talks Overshadow Urgent Biodiversity Summit in Colombia
Delegates at the UN COP16 summit in Cali face deadlock over financing nature conservation, with rich and developing nations divided on new funding mechanisms.
- The UN COP16 summit in Colombia aims to address biodiversity loss but is hindered by disagreements over funding strategies.
- Rich countries pledged $20 billion annually to developing nations by 2025, but progress has been slow, with only $15.4 billion raised so far.
- Developing nations demand a new fund to ensure equitable finance distribution, while wealthy countries argue existing mechanisms suffice.
- The summit seeks to protect 30% of global land and sea by 2030, but current protected areas fall short of targets set in the 2022 Montreal agreement.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres and other leaders emphasize the urgency of meeting biodiversity targets to combat climate change and ecosystem degradation.
Stern 
Die Tageszeitung 
The Guardian 
The Conversation 
