Continuing the biodiversity conversation, a post-summit challenge

Over the past two weeks, biodiversity has been the constant word in the conversations of national and international visitors ing through the Green and Blue Zones of COP16 in Cali. A natural wealth that is threatened by factors such as changes in land and sea use, climate change, pollution and the spread of invasive alien species.

(Lea esta historia en español, aquí)

Colombia is the second most biodiverse country on the planet, which puts us in a dominant position when we talk about the decisions that countries meeting under the Convention on Biological Diversity discuss in scenarios such as this summit to address the crisis of biodiversity loss. But what are we talking about when we talk about this natural wealth?

The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) defines it as "the variability among living organisms from different sources, including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part. It includes variability in genetic, phenotypic, phylogenetic and functional attributes, as well as changes in abundance and distribution over time and space within and among species, communities and ecosystems.

In other words, it is not just about animals and plants, but also about the ecosystems they make up, the microscopic world they coexist with, and the genetic information that shapes them. A macro and micro world that has been disappearing in recent decades and whose loss, in an interconnected planet, would mean the disappearance or transformation of other levels of biodiversity.

When we talk about biodiversity in Colombia, we are talking about a country where, according to the Biodiversity Information System (SIB), 32,054 species of animals, 37,718 species of plants and 6,936 species of fungi, to name but a few, have been described to date. This is just a sample of what is yet to be discovered.

In fact, during COP16, scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (London), presented a study showing that our country is one of the "dark spots" of plant diversity, regions where the greatest number of new species are expected to be discovered.

Colombia is the country in the world where we expect the greatest number of plant species to be collected. It already has a good database, Colombian botanists have done an excellent job of mapping its flora, but there are still many species that have not been discovered,' says Alexandre Antonelli, Kew's Director of Science.

One of the outcomes of COP16 was the progress made by some countries, including Colombia, which unveiled its Biodiversity Action Plans, which outline the actions each country is taking to meet the 23 goals of the Kunming-Montreal Convention to halt the loss of the world's biodiversity.

Six ambitious targets, consisting of 191 actions to restore biodiversity by 2030, were part of Colombia's first major announcement at the summit. One of these is to create territories with ecosystem integrity and regenerative models, and to this end it will seek to restore and convert 5,000,000 hectares to sustainable production models.

ALEJANDRA LÓPEZ PLAZAS - EL TIEMPO'S SPECIAL ENVOY TO COP16