Montreal and Cali, Colombia — Greenpeace welcomes the establishment of a new body at COP16 dedicated to the rights, roles, territories and knowledge of indigenous peoples, advancing marine protection, and integrating biodiversity and climate action. However, with the last-minute suspension of negotiations on climate change, disappointment over bridging the fiscal gap grew.
Lambrechts, head of the Greenpeace COP16 delegation, said: “The Cali government has put forward a plan to protect nature, but has not been able to mobilize the funds to actually implement it. Biodiversity finance remains stalled due to the absence of credible financial commitments from wealthy governments and unprecedented corporate lobbying. But that hasn’t stopped big pharmaceutical companies and big agricultural companies from striking a game-changing deal on corporate responsibility to pay for nature conservation. “Nature is collapsing, and people around the world cannot continue to pay the price.”
“Closing the financial gap was not simply a moral imperative, but a necessity to protect people and nature, which is becoming increasingly urgent every day. With one week left until the opening of COP29, trust between countries in the Southern and Northern hemispheres has been damaged due to the lack of funding decisions. “The only way forward is to protect the ecosystems that sustain our lives and build political bridges between biodiversity and climate action.”
Governments around the world, including Canada, must act much faster to deliver on the goals they committed to by signing the Global Biodiversity Framework in Montreal in 2022. This includes protecting at least 30% (30×30) of land and sea by 2030 and maintaining protection of indigenous peoples. Provides rights and biodiversity financing. Although Canada recently introduced the Nature Stewardship Act (C-73), this legislation does not go far enough to ensure that Canada meets its international obligations to halt and reverse nature loss.
Salome Sane, Nature, Oceans and Plastics ActivistGreenpeace Canada said:
“Two years after talking a good game by being one of the key architects of the landmark Kunming-Montreal Agreement, Canada ultimately missed the opportunity to deliver on its nature conservation commitments at COP16 in Colombia.
Nature is visibly collapsing and we can no longer afford to break our promises. We need the Government of Canada to step up action and show solidarity with those who are bearing the brunt of nature’s destruction by urgently passing a revised Nature Accountability Act that ensures transparency, accountability and justice for Indigenous peoples and communities. . “Nearly 90,000 people in Canada have already signed a petition calling for the swift passage of this law and are now waiting for the government to deliver on its promise before it is too late.”
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Notes to editors:
Greenpeace Canada media background on the Nature Accountability Act can be found here.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Dina Ni, Communications Campaigner, Greenpeace Canada
[email protected]; +1 416 820-2148
Gaby Flores, Communications Coordinator, Greenpeace International; [email protected]+1 214 454 3871
August Rick, Greenpeace East Asia Campaign Specialist,
[email protected]+57 321 793 5619
Greenpeace International Press Desk,
[email protected]+31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours a day)
