How the ocean shone during the UN Biodiversity Conference 2024

This October, the global community met in Cali, Colombia, at the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16), where meetings of the governing bodies of the convention’s two protocols were also held.

More than 20,000 participated, the highest number on record, with high hopes and expectations.

Such attention was not surprising, as it was the convention’s first meeting of its governing bodies since adopting the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Issues such as its monitoring framework and resource mobilization were high on the agenda.

Colombia, as conference host and holder of the COP presidency until the next conference, selected “Peace with Nature” as the theme, echoing the UN Secretary-General’s call to make peace with nature.

Also known as the “People’s COP,” it focused strongly on broad societal mobilization and the key roles of Indigenous peoples and local communities.

Many also called it the “Implementation COP” due to the attention paid to how best to finance and monitor the implementation of the global biodiversity framework.

As with most COPs, the conference was more than a negotiating forum; it was also a convening for the global community.

This COP saw an enormous range of events and activities within the “Blue Zone” – the main conference area for official delegates – but it also had the largest “Green Zone” – the public space – ever held for a biodiversity COP.

This contributed to excitement and energy that was palpable across almost all of the conference and energized participants through a gruelling two weeks.

However, there was also anxiety over how little time remains to achieve the 2030 targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework.

The 2024 Protected Planet report, launched during the conference, showed only 8.4% coverage of marine and coastal areas by protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, highlighting the urgent need for accelerated efforts to protect 30% of the Earth’s land and ocean by 2030 (dubbed "30x30").

Amid such a weighty agenda, the ocean shone through. The diverse global ocean community convened many side events on a huge range of topics, a dedicated Ocean Day event and a pavilion for coral reefs.

This momentum carried into the negotiating rooms, where the COP adopted two historic decisions on marine and coastal biodiversity and island biodiversity.

First, the COP agreed on a new and elaborated process for ecologically or biologically significant marine areas. Work under the Convention on Biodiversity to identify critical and vulnerable ocean areas began in 2010 and is one of the most important areas of ocean work under the convention.

Unfortunately, the process stalled for over eight years, largely for legal and political reasons. COP16 gave it new life, agreeing on mechanisms to identify new ecologically or biologically significant marine areas and update existing ones, ensuring they can support planning and management with the most advanced science and knowledge.

This comes when ecologically or biologically significant marine areas are critically needed, requiring significant efforts to achieve 30×30 and to prepare for future implementation of the new agreement for marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction.

This historic win shows that multilateralism supporting science-based management can persist in the face of politics.

A broad-reaching decision was also reached on filling gaps in the Convention on Biodiversity’s programmes of work on marine and coastal biodiversity and island biodiversity, strengthening collaboration and synergies with other important intergovernmental processes, including in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction, and capacity building and partnership activities under the Sustainable Ocean Initiative.

COP16 also saw major decisions adopted that were highly relevant to marine issues, including:

Although the conference was not set out specifically to be an “Ocean COP,” between negotiating wins and the groundswell of ocean energy, this was one of the bluest biodiversity COPs in recent memory.

As the conference neared its closing days, big issues on the agenda remained unresolved. Despite efforts that stretched into late hours and early mornings in the final stretch, many delegates left, which meant losing quorum (the minimum number of Parties to be present to make decisions). Outstanding issues still to be resolved include:

A special resumed session of COP16 will need to be scheduled to finalize the remaining issues.

Regardless of what’s outstanding, enormous progress was made at the conference, which will accelerate the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework and other major international agreements and frameworks. It will help the global community achieve our collective goals for a healthy, sustainable, productive ocean.