The global biodiversity summit in Rome was a moment for optimism – Inside track

This post is by Ruth Davis, the UK’s special representative for nature.

Against a backdrop of increasing global uncertainly and financial pressure, and with the impacts of climate change and nature loss being felt around the world, there has never been a more important time for international co-operation on the environment.

The natural world is intrinsically valuable and irreplaceable; but it also essential to sustain our basic needs, including water, food and energy security. Take (for example) the role that tropical forests play in generating rainfall across four continents: without which many items we consume every day – from coffee to fruit and vegetables – would be scarcer and more expensive.  Nature really is the stuff of our lives.

It was make or break for environmental action
With this in mind, parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity arrived in Rome in February to resume negotiations on a global plan to protect and restore nature, coming together three months after discussions timed out in Cali, Colombia, at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP). Although a smaller affair than the Cali meeting, and without the usual fanfare of a COP, the Rome gathering – held appropriately at the headquarters of the world’s Food and Agriculture Organization – was nonetheless a make or break moment for our collective efforts to safeguard the environment.

Because, despite the many challenges facing our world or, perhaps, because of them, co-operation through the United Nations and its conventions still offers the best chance possible to tackle global environmental crises; allowing countries to set shared goals, monitor progress and mobilise resources in a forum where everyone has a voice.

COP16 in Cali was the first major nature summit for two years, and the first since governments adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) in 2022. It delivered significant steps forward in implementing the framework but, worryingly, some important decisions were not agreed before the meeting ended, including key decisions on raising and spending money and tracking progress against targets and goals.

A global collaboration strategy was agreed
This meant that ministers and officials meeting in Rome had to pick up these discussions and agree on creative solutions in super quick time. And in a rare and precious moment of hope, they did just that. Late on Thursday night, the parties agreed a package of decisions, including a new strategy for global collaboration on raising finance for biodiversity, and the details of the monitoring framework for the GBF.

In the light of the multiple and competing pressures on public resources, the decision on finance could not have been better timed: sending a clear signal that countries must now work together to find innovative mechanisms for raising new money to support nature.

Businesses have a way to pay nature back
One such mechanism has already come into being through a decision made at COP16. The launch of the Cali Fund for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources (something of a mouthful) was another reason to celebrate in Rome.

At a time when we urgently need finance from beyond the public purse, the Cali Fund is a big win for nature. It enables businesses to pay nature back for the vital role it plays in the development of products and services in (amongst others) the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and biotech industries. Companies can now make contributions to the fund, and I hope that UK companies will be amongst the first to do so.

The UK needs to move fast
Looking ahead, 2025 must also mark a step change in the speed at which we implement the GBF here in the UK: including tackling important challenges, such as how to maintain productive agriculture and build the infrastructure needed for people and the economy, whilst contributing to the restoration of nature.

The publication of the UK’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan sets out the overall strategy for the four nations of the UK to implement the GBF, and sits alongside the publication of the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), our contribution to global climate goals.  We must now make sure these plans work together, delivering the best outcomes for climate and nature and contributing to a thriving economy.

So, with the conclusion of the CBD COP16, we can share a sense of quiet optimism. In the stark light of global challenges, governments made real progress towards the protection and restoration of nature. We have a nascent plan to close the biodiversity finance gap, and some of the tools in place to do that, and we are taking significant steps at home. But we mustn’t rest yet. 2025 is an important year, with Brazil hosting a major climate summit in November. This is another chance to show that, against a difficult backdrop, we can work together for the common good, protecting our complex, beautiful and biodiverse natural world which, in its turn, protects all of us.