Global Biodiversity Talks Resume in Italy Amid Funding Disputes

International negotiations aimed at protecting global biodiversity have restarted in Italy’s Rome, with delegates calling for unified action to “sustain life on the planet,” Al Jazeera reports.

The talks follow a previous meeting in Cali, Colombia, last November, which ended without a consensus due to disputes over funding.

More than two years after a landmark agreement to protect 30 percent of the world’s land and seas by 2030, nations remain divided on how to finance the effort to reverse biodiversity loss, which scientists warn threatens a million species.

Negotiators at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization headquarters are tasked with resolving a deadlock between developed and developing countries over establishing a specific fund dedicated to nature conservation.

At the opening of the talks on Tuesday, representatives from developing nations emphasized the need to unlock funds and urged wealthy countries to fulfill their pledge of providing $20 billion annually to poorer nations by 2025. A representative from Panama stressed that a failure to do so could erode trust and called for adequate overall financing beyond 2030.

According to a recent report from the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London, global wildlife populations have declined by an average of 73 percent in the past 50 years.

While the United States is not a signatory to the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity, the current administration has taken steps to halt development funding through the United States Agency for International Development.

The Rome talks have a smaller format than the conference in Cali, with 1,400 accredited participants and a few hundred country representatives attending the opening plenary.

Countries have launched into closed-door negotiations, scheduled to continue through Tuesday evening. The goal is to create a plan for the promised $200 billion in annual biodiversity finance by 2030, including $30 billion per year from wealthier nations to poorer ones. According to the OECD, total funding for 2022 reached approximately $15 billion.

A central point of contention is the mechanism for delivering funding. Developing nations, led by Brazil and the African group, advocate for a new, dedicated biodiversity fund, claiming they lack adequate representation in existing financial mechanisms. Developed nations, including the European Union, Japan, and Canada, argue that creating multiple funds would fragment aid.

A new text published by the COP16 presidency proposes postponing a final decision on a new fund to future UN talks while suggesting reforms to existing financing mechanisms.

One success from the Cali conference was the establishment of a new fund to share profits from digitally sequenced genetic data from plants and animals with the communities they originate from. The fund was officially launched on Tuesday and aims to have large firms contribute a portion of the profit or revenue generated from developing products like medicine and cosmetics using this data.