COP15: Developed, developing nations differ on funding

The adoption of the Global Biodiversity Framework of the GBF was not bereft of controversy. The second week of negotiations was marked by strong differences between developing and developed country parties on issues related to finance for implementation of these targets and on differentiation in the responsibilities of parties as per their national circumstances.

The COP15 presidency, China, last week selected six ministers to drive consensus on contentious issues of the framework. On Sunday it appeared that the differences in opinion had been resolved. But on Monday (3am in Montreal), during the closing plenary to adopt GBF, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) expressed reservations to the package and said it was not able to support it in its current form. DRC wanted a new biodiversity fund to be operationalised and more discussion on an equally ambitious finance goal that can meet the conservation and restoration requirement of GBF. Mexico soon after said there should be no rollback and called on parties to show flexibility while defending the package.

After a brief pause, the Chinese presidency said they had heard Mexico and the resounding support from the floor and proposed to adopt the package. Within less than a second the package was declared as adopted. Several African countries criticised the move. Cameroon said the Chinese presidency used the “force of hand” for the adoption of the framework . Uganda’s representative asked whether it was right to declare a decision when a party has openly raised an objection. The UN process allows decisions only by consensus. A legal representative of CBD said there was no formal objection by DRC, a point contested by the latter.

The representative from Namibia gave an emotive speech on the matter: “We would like to congratulate you on crafting a very finely balanced deal which makes everybody equally unhappy which is the secret to reaching an agreement in the UN system… this is my last meeting so I will speak freely. I do not care actually what anyone thinks. I want to start off by saying that I have great sympathy for my colleague from DRC because he comes from one of the most brutalised countries in the world. Those of you who have read the Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness would recall that the Belgian colonisers in the Congo would chop off hands of people for not tapping enough rubber…Mr President that colonial injustice that is amplified by what happened in the Congo is the origin of all the problems that we encountered in this convention and in the relationship between humanity and biodiversity.”