Earth Today | Latin America, Caribbean make progress on biodiversity goals

THE UNITED Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) earlier this week presented the progress being made in Latin America and the Caribbean to meet the targets set out in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The framework outlines concrete goals for the protection of global biodiversity.

The presentation took place at the 16th Conference of the Parties on Biodiversity, held in Cali, Colombia. The conference saw the participation of some 12,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries to address biodiversity conservation and a sustainable future for all forms of life on the planet.

The Caribbean’s progress was presented through a compendium of publications highlighting the work over the past decade (2013-2023), across more than 150 actions in 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, on biodiversity. These publications analyse initiatives supported by FAO and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

“Significant progress has been made in the region, integrating biodiversity considerations into policies and strategies at all levels. This compendium shows how FAO projects, financed by the Global Environment Facility, have made a difference,” said María Mercedes Proaño, FAO’s climate finance officer, who gave the presentation in Cali.

“Even before this biodiversity framework, we have been working energetically towards better production and a better environment, promoting better nutrition and a better life, leaving no one behind,” she added.

The achievements include eliminating obsolete pesticides, reducing costs, protecting the environment in fisheries, and converting thousands of hectares into protected areas, among other initiatives.

In the Caribbean, for example, under ‘Target 07: Reducing pollution to levels not harmful to biodiversity’, 319 tons of obsolete pesticides were eliminated, including persistent organic pollutants and polychlorinated biphenyls – an amount similar to the weight of approximately eight Boeing 737 aircraft.

Brazil was also among those countries in the region to make progress. Aligned with ‘Target 08: Minimise the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and build resilience’, the country saw a reduction of more than 23 per cent in fuel consumption in fishing, which was achieved thanks to modified fishing nets, leading to lower pollution and costs, with the potential to obtain blue economy credits for reduced emissions.

The FAO is currently working with countries in the region to develop projects aimed exclusively at achieving the biodiversity goals for GEF-8 (the eighth replenishment cycle), totalling US$37.6 million, in addition to the US$60 million in proposals that include biodiversity and address these goals.