Did the COP16 Biodiversity conference in Colombia make progress on the protection of environmental defenders?
Photo: Lina Robles- Publimetro COP16: “their spirits are still alive”, activists protested the murder of environmental leaders in the Blue Zone.
The United Nations COP16 Biodiversity conference in Cali, Colombia that began on October 21 concluded on the morning of November 2.
The Guardian explains: “A global summit on halting the destruction of nature ended in disarray on Saturday, with some breakthroughs but key issues left unresolved. …Negotiations were due to finish on Friday evening but ended in confusion on Saturday morning after almost 12 hours of talks.”
On November 1, Publimetro reported: “Amid shouts and chants, dozens of environmental activists raised their voices in the Blue Zone [where the official COP16 negotiations take place] to reject the lack of protection faced by environmental leaders.”
That article adds: “In the main square of the event, protesters expressed their discontent with the negotiators, noting that despite the discussions, no concrete agreements have been reached to stop these killings. Many of these leaders in their territories feel threatened and without sufficient protection.”
Devdiscourse also reported: “Negotiations at COP16 included proposals for tracking killings of those safeguarding the environment. …Critics like Natalia Gomez, EarthRights’ climate policy advisor, argue existing measures are inadequate.”
And at the beginning of the talks, Michel Forst, the UN Special Rapporteur on environmental defenders, commented: “If despite the efforts made by Colombia, Brazil and other allies of defenders, some States are reluctant and say no, [given decisions are made by consensus] the final document will not contain anything about the rights of environmental defenders, which for me is a failure. But not a failure of Colombia, but of powerful actors who might have the possibility of influencing others to include clear language and wording on human rights in the final documentary.”
Will 30×30 put more land defenders at risk?
The Associated Press further notes: “The COP16 summit hosted in Cali, Colombia, was a follow-up to the historic 2022 accord in Montreal, which includes 23 measures to save Earth’s plant and animal life, including putting 30% of the planet and 30% of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030.”
In August 2021, 49 organizations expressed concern with this initiative: “While protecting at least 30% of the planet’s land and oceans by 2030 is on its face a worthy goal of responding to biodiversity loss, the Framework’s focus on ‘protected areas’ will likely continue to lead to human rights abuses across the globe.”
One of the signatories, the Swift Foundation, says: “How it’s working right now is a militarized form of conservation. You have guards with guns, people imposing fines, building fences and kicking people out of their traditional lands. And if communities react in defense they are perceived as anti-conservation.”
In November 2022, the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (OFRANEH) tweeted: “30×30 will be taken to COP15 by conservation multinationals intensifying pressure on the territory of indigenous peoples. Honduras for 30 years has militarized the Cayos Cochinos and the Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge, resulting in multiple human rights violations.”
Earlier that year, they also tweeted: “The #30×30 without real recognition of the right to prior, free and informed consultation, supposed conservation becomes dispossession and violations of human rights, as has happened in the case of Cayos Cochinos, where since 1993 the expulsion of Garífunas has been promoted.”
Artificial intelligence, a new weapon against defenders
Along with a lack of progress on protection for environmental defenders, there are new threats on the horizon.
An article in Mongabay notes: “[Forst also] says that there is a growing pattern of attacks against environmental and territorial defenders, ‘using increasingly sophisticated technological means that we were not used to in the past.’ Forst also told Mongabay Latam that not only is justice turning to artificial intelligence, but criminals are using it to fabricate videos, audios and other false information to discredit environmental defenders. ‘It’s an issue that we still don’t know how to deal with effectively.’”
Biodiversity credits
Biodiversity credits are also seen as problematic.
Contra Corriente reports: “[At COP16] the proposal for biodiversity credits as one of the mechanisms to restore ecosystems by 2030 has sparked intense debate. In Honduras, similar initiatives faced complaints of irregularities and rejection by indigenous peoples and environmentalists, who argue that this measure privileges corporations and markets. Indigenous advocates also urge that summit discussions not only focus on protecting nature, but also on guaranteeing the rights of communities.”
Bertha Zúniga of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) and Rony Castillo of OFRANEH disagree with biodiversity credits.
Zuniga says: “It is horrible that now the forests of the communities, their biodiversity and their richness, including culture, are being converted into an environmental service available to the market. [COPINH has] always claimed in the communities that they are life and not profit, and that forests, rivers, or biodiversity cannot be merchandise; this continues to be a false environmental solution.”
And Castillo says: “[Biodiversity credits are] one more tool of dispossession.”
A new Indigenous G9
There may be some room for optimism.
The Inter Press Service further reports: “Indigenous leaders from the Amazon formed a new coalition of indigenous peoples [at COP16]. The indigenous members of this new Group of Nine (G9) demand an end to mining and deforestation, obtain direct financing and consolidate the titling of their lands.”
This Group of Nine could help to advance the agenda for the protection of Indigenous land and territorial defenders.
A new permanent body for Indigenous peoples
CGTN also reports COP16 concluded with three major agreements.
They note: “Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development and the chair of this conference, announced that the three agreements are: the creation of a subsidiary body for Indigenous peoples of Africa and local communities; recognition of people of African descent as guardians of biodiversity under the Convention; and the establishment of a work plan for communities through 2030.”
Reuters adds: “Countries at the U.N. COP16 summit on nature on [November 1] approved a measure to create a permanent body for Indigenous peoples to consult on United Nations decisions about nature conservation. The consultative body is considered a breakthrough in recognizing the role that Indigenous peoples play in conserving nature globally, including some of the most biodiverse areas of the planet, according to Indigenous and environmental advocates.”
The next COPs
Now that COP16 biodiversity conference has concluded, next up is the COP29 climate conference that will take place from November 11 to 22 in Azerbaijan. Following that, the next round of negotiations on the Binding Treaty on business and human rights will take place from December 16 to 20 in Geneva.
The Guardian has also noted that given COP16 ending in “disarray” that “countries will need to continue the talks next year at an interim meeting in Bangkok.”
That would presumably be before the COP30 climate conference that will take place on November 10 to 21 in Belém, Brazil.
Just prior to COP28, Global Witness highlighted that at least 1,390 land and environmental defenders had been killed since COP21 in December 2015.
The key question remains: What can be done to stop the killings, threats against, and harassment, criminalization and judicialization of environmental defenders and uphold the land, water and territories they protect?
We continue to follow all these processes.
Further reading: PBI-Canada hosts webinar on UN COP and Binding Treaty processes and the protection of environmental defenders (October 25, 2024).
0 Comments