Colombia, which experienced a long armed conflict with the extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), proposes to the planet “peace with nature”. This is the motto chosen for the 16thmy edition of the Conference of the Parties on Biological Diversity to be held from 21 to 1 OctoberAhem November in Cali, Colombia’s third city, in the southwest of the country. More than 190 delegations and 14 heads of state are expected at this COP16 dedicated to safeguarding biodiversity. Colombia hopes to affirm its regional and global leadership in this matter, in a tense security context.
Municipal authorities have officially prepared to receive 12,000 people. “If 20,000 come, logistics will have difficulty keeping up”a person in charge of the organization worries, demanding anonymity. The mayor, Alejandro Eder, appears confident. “From a security point of view, Cali is armored,” declared. Some 3,300 police are expected to reinforce the city during the event and 1,600 soldiers have been deployed in its surroundings.
Active in the mountains south of the city, the armed group EMC, which calls itself the heir of former FARC guerrillas, he asked, in a message posted on X on October 12 ” to delegates of the national and international community to refrain from attending this event,” promising a “fiasco”. In July, the EMC had threatened to collapse the COP and then announced a truce in August. “We are all nervous so that nothing bad happens, because this is the largest event that Colombia has ever organized”recognized President Gustavo Petro (left) on Friday, October 18, while reaffirming that the security of the COP would be ” guarantee “.
Varied ecosystems
“Never has a biodiversity COP received so many heads of state,” says Susana Muhamad, Colombian Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, who is preparing to preside over the event. The negotiations will mainly focus on the implementation of the ambitious action plan adopted in 2022, during COP15 in Montreal, known as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. States will have, among other things, to specify their objectives in terms of protected areas, to try to stop the unprecedented erosion of living beings.
With three mountain ranges that rise to more than 6,000 m above sea level, two oceans, a large piece of Amazon rainforest, glaciers, rivers, swamps, mangroves, deserts, humid high-altitude and warm plains in the east of the country, the Colombian geography is home to varied ecosystems. In the world biodiversity ranking, the country occupies first place.
You have 58.98% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
