International

COP16 Produces $200B A Year Plan To Protect Nature

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The 16th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity was held in Cali, Colombia last fall.

Published

4 days ago

March 27, 2025

Jasmin Brown

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The 16th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity was held in Cali, Colombia last fall.

Fast forward to February of this year, that’s when countries gathered in Rome and agreed to a late-night deal to generate $200 billion in financing per year by 2030.

The goal? To halt and begin to reverse the destruction of biodiversity.

COP16 President and Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad applauded the agreement as a triumph for nature and multilateralism in a year when the political landscape is increasingly fragmented, and conflict is rising.

The need for action has only increased in recent years, with the average size of wildlife populations down 73% since 1970, according to data from the WWF’s 2024 Living Planet Report.

The deal includes protecting 30% of land and marine environments globally by 2030.

Analysts call it a positive step forward for nature and biodiversity worldwide.

Expert Insight on the Agreement

Georgina Chandler – Head of Policy and Campaigns, Zoological Society of London:
“I think it’s really positive. I think the mood in the room reflected that last night as well. As I said, this is something that the governments have been trying to decide a way forward on for quite a long time. And now they’ve got a clear work plan, a clear plan of action over the next five years about what they’re going to do, when they’re going to do it. Hopefully, that will also help rebuild some trust in the process because there’s a plan that you can hold people accountable to.”

Next Steps: Monitoring and Reporting
Countries also agreed to a set of technical rules for monitoring progress toward their nature targets and secured a commitment for each nation to publish a national report on their biodiversity plans ahead of COP17 in 2026.