The closing plenary meeting, scheduled for 18:00 Colombian time, did not start for more than three hours as smaller groups of negotiators met behind closed doors to resolve their differences.

The 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) began on October 21 and was scheduled to end on Friday, but many are now preparing for a late night.

The conference, the largest ever meeting of its kind with nearly 23,000 registered delegates, is a follow-up to an agreement reached in Canada two years ago.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which emerged from COP15, set 23 targets to stop humanity from greedily destroying nature’s bounty.

These include protecting 30 percent of land and sea areas and restoring 30 percent of degraded ecosystems by 2030, reducing pollution and phasing out harmful agricultural and other subsidies.

It agreed to allocate $200 billion a year to protect biodiversity by 2030, including $30 billion a year from rich countries to poor countries.

COP16’s mandate was to assess and accelerate progress.

But observers and delegates say negotiations over funding have not progressed, even though new research presented this week shows more than a quarter of the plants and animals assessed are at risk of extinction.

The Colombian presidency of the summit has proposed a series of last-minute draft texts that negotiators will consider as a way to end the impasse.

One option was for talks on financing to continue after the summit and until the next summit in Armenia in 2026, finding a “comprehensive financial solution to close the financial biodiversity gap.”

Such discussions will also consider the feasibility of establishing a new dedicated biodiversity fund; It is an important demand from developing countries who say that they are not represented in the existing mechanisms, which is very burdensome.

Another point of contention is how best to share the profits from digitally sequenced genetic data from animals and plants with the communities from which they come.

Such data, mostly from species found in poor countries, is used particularly in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics that can make billions for their developers.

COP15 in Montreal agreed to create a “multilateral mechanism”, abbreviated as DSI, “including a global fund” to share the benefits of digitally sequenced genetic information.

But negotiators still need to resolve basic questions such as who pays how much, which fund should go, and to whom the money should go.

In a draft text to negotiators, the COP16 presidency proposed the creation of a new “Cali Fund” for the fair sharing of DSI aid.

Negotiators are also stuck on the nature of a mechanism to monitor progress towards UN goals.

‘Everyone has to surrender’

On Thursday, Colombian environment minister and COP16 president Susana Muhamad said the negotiations were “very complex.”

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres, who spent two days in Cali this week with five heads of state and dozens of ministers to build momentum for talks, reminded delegates that humanity has already transformed three-quarters of Earth’s land surface and two-thirds of its soil surface. its waters.

“The clock is ticking. The survival of our planet’s biodiversity and our own survival are at stake,” he said.

Representatives of indigenous peoples and local communities held demonstrations at COP16 to press for greater rights and protections, and delegates inside debated a proposal to create a permanent representative body for them under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

No agreement was reached on this issue after nearly two weeks of negotiations.

The meeting was held amid a major security deployment following threats from a Colombian guerrilla group with a base of operations near Cali.