Government leaders, scientists, and policy experts from across the world, including UC Santa Cruz alumni and faculty, are gathered in Colombia for worldwide negotiations to protect endangered species, restore damaged habitats, and preserve ecosystems.
The 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 16) goes through Nov. 1 in Cali, Colombia. The Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted in 1992 and was the first global agreement to cover critical aspects of biological diversity with its three objectives: conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components, and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
Jenna Shinen (Cowell '01, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Marine Biology), a foreign affairs officer with the U.S. State Department’s Office of Conservation and Water, is leading the U.S. delegation, made up of about 40 representatives across many US agencies. Rosalind Helfand (Porter '97, environmental studies) is co-leading the California Global Biodiversity Working Group, which is coordinating California’s extended statewide coalition attending the conference.
Though not a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United States engages as a government observer and as a key partner in nature conservation worldwide.
“The United States is deeply committed to nature conservation at home and abroad: we support the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the swift implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework,” said Shinen.
Other COP 16 attendees include UC Santa Cruz Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela, Associate Adjunct Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Rachel Meyer, and postdoctoral fellow Rae Taylor-Burns.
COP 16 will be the first biodiversity conference since the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP 15 in December 2022 in Montreal, Canada.
After a four-year consultation and negotiation process, the framework sets out an “ambitious pathway to reach the global vision of a world living in harmony with nature by 2050,” according to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The framework includes 4 goals for 2050 and 23 targets for 2030. At COP16, government leaders will focus on reviewing the state of implementation of the framework.
California taking leadership role
As the world’s fifth-largest economy, California is taking a leadership role in advancing global biodiversity goals. California’s Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot will be attending the conference.
The state is the only subnational government that is an independent observer to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
The California Global Biodiversity Working Group (CAGBWG) is advocating to integrate all 23 Targets into decision-making across the state of California at all levels. Participants in the CGWBG include the cities of San Francisco and LA, The Nature Conservancy, Ocean Protection Council, and many other members. This is because targets cover and address issues of equity and justice, as well as linking biodiversity and climate change, urban biodiversity, pollution of all forms, sustainable agriculture and food waste, reducing production and consumption and ensuring the systems that enable clean air and water are protected and restored, Helfand said.
“It’s exciting to see Californians coming together in such a big way to lead, learn and showcase their work for biodiversity on the global stage,” Helfand said. “Biodiversity loss is an issue that cuts across every aspect of our lives and in every space since we depend completely on healthy ecosystems for our existence. I hope our participation in this global forum will generate even stronger action here at home.”
Liz Chamberlin ('98, biology), a member of the working group's steering committee, is at COP 16 to represent both the CAGBWG and Point Blue Conservation Science. She is seeking to help highlight California’s leadership in biodiversity conservation, learn from global leaders how we can better steward our natural environment, and promote the full implementation of the framework.
Chamberlin is the director of innovation with Point Blue Conservation Science, which works to reduce the impacts of climate change, habitat loss, and other environmental threats. She leads Point Blue’s Innovation Group, which is looking to help transform science into meaningful conservation action through strategic partnership building, integrated social and ecological science, and community science.
She is a co-leader of Point Blue’s Roots Program, supported with a $26 million block grant from California’s Wildlife Conservation Board. The Roots Program develops, supports and implements community-centered wildlife habitat restoration projects on working landscapes across California. She serves on the Steering Committees of the California Global Biodiversity Working Group and the California Biodiversity Network.
Worldwide discussions guide research priorities
Assistant Professor Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela, a Colombian conservation ecologist, said that her work is guided by decisions made at meetings such as COP 16 because it is where government officials agree on biodiversity targets, priorities for research, and benchmarks for funding.
“The core of my work is improving conservation priorities in biodiversity hotspots like Colombia, and I am currently developing a mapping tool that would enable habitat connectivity mapping for all bird species globally, providing a tool to guide 30x30 conservation targets,” Ocampo-Peñuela said.
She will participate in a panel on the Colombian Diaspora, which aims to highlight the role of Colombian natives who work from outside Colombia yet still contribute to biodiversity research and training in this biodiverse country. She’s also planning on attending many other talks, discussions, and panels, and observing negotiations between world leaders at the main stage.
Meyer is at COP 16 to represent Wise Ancestors, CALeDNA (the California Environmental DNA Program), and eDNA Explorer.
CALeDNA works to address problems in biodiversity monitoring by pairing volunteer community scientists with California researchers to collect, sequence, and analyze soil, sediment, and water samples from across the golden state and the globe. UCSC’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department is the headquarters of CALeDNA. Wise Ancestors is a 501(c)3 spin-out from UC Santa Cruz focused on a new funding and benefit-sharing model for conservation and genomics initiatives that put local communities and Indigenous People first. eDNA Explorer offers a tool that brings together eDNA projects from around the world to allow researchers to explore data using a common format, integrate results across global projects, and compare eDNA data with data gathered from traditional and remote sensing biomonitoring methods.
Taylor-Burns is at the conference to share about a project from the UCSC Center for Coastal Climate Resilience quantifying the global flood risk reduction benefits of coral reefs and mangroves. With new datasets and modeling approaches, researchers are producing the most robust and high-resolution information to date, quantifying how important coastal habitats are in reducing flood risk from climate change.
These results can be viewed on the newly released Coastal Risk Index web platform, created collaboratively with UCSC, IHE Delft, and the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance. Users can navigate around the globe to view current and future flood risk and visualize how coastal ecosystems reduce flood risk to people and infrastructure.
Globally, these ecosystems protect more than 14 million people and $363 billion in assets per year, Taylor-Burns said. Incorporating nature’s risk reduction benefits into insurance pricing could make much-needed funding available for habitat conservation and restoration.
