COP 16: Government of Colombia announces Cali as host city

THE 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will be held in Cali, Colombia, President Gustavo Petro of Colombia has announced.

The conference is the regular United Nations meeting of the countries that signed the Convention on Biological Diversity, the international agreement for conserving biodiversity

COP16 is scheduled to take place from October 21 to November 2, 2024, in Cali, the third-largest city in Colombia.

David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the CBD Secretariat, said: “I offer my sincere congratulations to the city of Cali for being selected to host the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference – COP 16.

“We welcome this announcement made by the Colombian organising committee.  Our special thanks go to President Gustavo Petro, the Minister of the Environment Susana Muhamad and the entire team of the Colombian government. I want to also thank the city of Bogota, as well as the other candidate cities who so vibrantly and energetically launched campaigns to host COP16.

“For us at the Convention on Biological Diversity, it is very heartwarming to witness Colombia’s incredible commitment and dedication, in all levels of government and across society, and continue demonstrating its leadership in the international biodiversity arena.

“To be held almost two years after the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, COP 16 will be of significant importance as it will help catalyse solutions to go from agreement to action, facilitating the rapid and effective implementation of the most ambitious plan for biodiversity to date.”

Colombia’s Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhammad, “The road to COP16 in Colombia is really beginning. Perhaps the most important international negotiation event that the country has held in its history. We will have the honor of holding the presidency of the Biodiversity COP for two years.

“This means that Colombia will be the articulator of international negotiation on biodiversity, for important decisions such as compliance with the goals of the Kunming-Montreal framework, which for example establishes the need to conserve 30 percent of the world’s continental and maritime surface for conservation for the survival of following generations.

“Colombia wants this to be the COP of the people, of those people who live and thrive in biodiversity. Colombia wants this to also be the COP where peace with nature is promulgated and nature is recognised as one of the pillars of the climate transition. It will be a latin american COP and it will especially be a COP where the voice of megadiverse countries is heard within international geopolitical interests.”

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