COP16: A fragmented community

For the first time, the Wyss Academy was represented by a delegation at a United Nations environmental convention meeting: A look at their contribution and the observations they made at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Participants at the High-Level Forum “Building Bridges for the Implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework” led by the Wyss Academy on October 30 at COP16 in Cali, Colombia

23,000 delegates were present in Cali, Colombia in October of this year: among them, eight representatives of the Wyss Academy for Nature at the University of Bern, as part of a delegation with observer status. Did COP16 make enough of a difference to worldwide efforts to deal with biodiversity loss? And what impact could be made by a single delegation? After all, this was the kind of event where the young Wyss Academy's DNA could come into play - for example, when conflicting goals and the complex interconnections between issues such as biodiversity, climate, land use and human wellbeing threaten to prevent progress.

“This is why the Wyss Academy was created: to show how we can handle those conflicting interests and overcome them – toward creating co-benefits for nature and people,” said Wyss Academy Director, Prof. Dr. Peter Messerli when we spoke to him in Cali. His key question: “How can we build bridges which are more than just connections: bridges that we can walk across and work together – and find really innovative ways of doing so?”

Why forests are a good example

The Wyss Academy had already issued a call to action to integrate biodiversity as a central value in global policies and practices, highlighting the need for an inclusive and justice-based approach to implementing the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework that had been agreed at COP15.

Forest in Emmental, Switzerland, where a Wyss Academy Dialogue on "The True Value of Forests" was held on June 4-5, 2024. | Photo: Natalia Peralta

They now set out to use the space offered by COP16 to trigger interest for the Academy’s own work on conservation, further develop initiatives such as the Amazon Knowledges meta-repository, and elevate the voices of the less heard. And in doing so, to strengthen links between local action and the global policy discussion.

One of the Wyss Academy’s aims at COP16 was to disseminate findings from the Wyss Academy Dialogues on the True Value of Forests, in which biodiversity conservation intersected with climate solutions and the promotion of human well-being. The dialogue series had taken place on four continents in May and June and concluded with a global dialogue in October: Regional representatives from across society had discussed the potential of forests and developed concrete ideas on how they could be used sustainably, with benefits to nature and people alike.

In the Green Zone, a space created by the Government of Colombia to connect COP16 with Cali’s citizens, the Academy shared findings from its Dialogue on the True Value of Forests with a diverse audience of civil society actors not accredited to the CBD, to broaden the reach of its message. Its findings further stimulated discussions at side events hosted at the Government of Peru Pavilion and the Inter-American Development Bank and Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization Pavilion. Key figures were brought together, such as Fanny Kuiru, Secretary General of COICA; Katrin Schneeberger, Switzerland’s Secretary of State for the Environment; and Raquel Soto, Peru’s Vice Minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources.

Participants at the events - including representatives of Indigenous Peoples, governments, the private sector, and academia - debated strategies to bridge the gap between knowledge and action. Peter Messerli asked: “We know so much, but are acting so little. How can we reduce this gap to create meaningful change?”

According to Messerli, forests show that the environmental crises are closely linked - the loss of biodiversity, climate change, but also the degradation of land and culture. These aspects must be tackled together, and the causes of the problems must be addressed.

The dead ends created by silo thinking

The general results of COP16, which have been widely discussed in public, are sobering at first glance. The negotiating states are at a critical juncture: the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) needs to be fleshed out. It was adopted at the preceding COP in Montreal and was considered by some to be a breakthrough, with its vision of sustainable management of nature by 2050 and concrete targets set by the end of 2030. In Cali, however many stakeholders deplored a lack of this visionary spirit, as it was not possible to establish the financial framework for the international promotion of biodiversity. Other urgent decisions were postponed. Peter Messerli criticizes that the community is highly fragmented, silo thinking has not been overcome and there is still a lack of partnerships between companies, governments, civil society and science.

How (some) thinking is changing

Taking a closer look at the developments, some progress can be seen: Wyss Academy scientist and COP expert, Dr. Van Hai Nguyen, who attended COP16 online, observes a shift towards systemic, integrated strategies and sees connections to the Academy's work. She sees approaches that tackle the loss of biodiversity across social and sectoral boundaries.

At COP16, for example, a work program of the Convention on Biological Diversity was revised to give greater priority to Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs). “Our contributions played a decisive role in this,” says Dr. Nguyen. She is the co-author of a report with ASEAN CSO Forum in Southeast Asia, the results of which were discussed at several COP events. This places the experiences of IPLCs in the context of national action plans and global goals in order to identify pathways for transformative change.

It is also a key success of COP16 that a permanent Subsidiary Body for IPLCs has been established to coordinate views and activities. For Margaret Owuor, Professor of Integrative Biodiversity Conservation at the Wyss Academy, this was a highlight. “It allows people to take more responsibility for the conservation and governance of their natural ecosystems and also to participate directly in forums and discussions without someone always having to speak for them,” she emphasizes.

But will these steps also strengthen social equality and justice in the implementation of the KMGBF goals? Van Hai Nguyen, Professor Owuor and other researchers are now investigating what shifts can be observed in the local-global governance landscape for biodiversity. The aim is to create a global dataset of the post-KMGBF actors’ actions and measures to highlight who is contributing to what and where. The results of the first four years since Montreal will be discussed at the next Biodiversity COP in 2026.

When momentum is created

It should then also be clear what momentum COP16 itself has triggered in South America. For the Wyss Academy hub there, based in Peru, it was decisive in deepening strategic partnerships, emphasizes its director, Miguel Saravia. A new initiative, the Amazon Knowledges meta-repository, was presented and driven forward. Together with numerous partners, the Academy is working on the question of how knowledge about the Amazon region can be made more accessible across borders and cultures. The idea was born during the regional Wyss Academy Dialogues in May, when interested groups from the Amazon region came together in Manaus, Brazil. According to Saravia, the initiative is key to strengthening regional partnerships. “Our goal is to ensure that knowledge is not only preserved but actively shared and used to guide sustainable practices.”

Because everything is connected

Ultimately, Hub Director Saravia is also looking ahead to the upcoming climate conference (COP30) which will take place in the Brazilian Amazon metropolis of Belém in November 2025. The aim is to bring the results of the biodiversity conference in Colombia to neighboring Brazil and link them to the global climate community. From the Wyss

Academy's perspective, this is a logical step in many respects. Firstly, it offers further opportunities for networking interest groups. Secondly, according to Saravia, the complex problems cannot be tackled in isolated conventions. “We can't talk about biodiversity if we don't understand the role of climate change in affecting it,” he explains. New ideas for cooperation are needed to establish the link between the action frameworks of both conventions – a task to which the Wyss Academy intends to make its contribution. According to Saravia: “While the seeds planted at COP16 may take time to bear fruit, the momentum for transformative change has already begun.”