Indigenous Peoples and Marine Protected Areas, the two achievements of COP16 one day before the end of the meeting

In the final stretch of negotiations, the COP16 plenary debated into the early hours of the morning on two consecutive nights. Delegates, who had been negotiating for a week and a half in Cali, managed to reach agreement after lengthy discussions on two issues, one crucial from a government perspective and the other fundamental to the global protection of the oceans.

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"We achieved the first major negotiating objective in yesterday's plenary, which was the adoption of the Work Plan for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, a decision that creates a clear path for the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Framework for Indigenous Peoples, with the consensus of all countries," said COP16 President Susana Muhamad on Thursday.

The work plan was a point that Colombia had ed before the summit began. However, it was only part of what was expected to be achieved under the Article 8j under discussion, as there are still debates to be settled, such as the inclusion of Afro-descendant peoples in the same section and the creation of a subsidiary body for communities, which would essentially mean that they would have more representation within the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). At press time, the hundreds of delegates at the Pacific Valley Events Centre were still trying to reach a consensus, while the government remained positive.

"We are very happy that what the indigenous communities proposed has been approved, because we have had rights for more than 494 years, and I believe that this is a little bit of what gives us back our life, because we have been constant in our protection, so I believe that today history is a little bit vindicated with us," said the indigenous governor of the Indigenous Authority of Southwest Colombia (Aiso), María Yolanda Campo.

The second major agreement reached early Thursday morning was the result of an eight-year struggle. It is a global agreement to identify and conserve marine areas of high ecological importance in international waters. This was a key issue because in order to meet one of the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Framework to protect 30 per cent of marine areas, it was necessary for ocean areas that are now international territorial seas to be declared protected areas by the UN.

To achieve this, the global agreement signed at COP16 and endorsed by delegates from different regions of the world establishes an innovative scientific and technical process to identify ecologically and biologically significant marine areas (Ebsas). This will promote the protection of key species and ecosystems in international waters beyond the jurisdiction of any one country.

To identify Ebsas, a scientific advisory group of global experts will be established to oversee the identification and updating of Ebsas and to coordinate conservation efforts in international areas. In addition, the description of these areas will be based exclusively on scientific and technical criteria, without affecting territorial sovereignty, thus maintaining neutrality and respect between nations.

Thanks to the of countries such as , Belgium, Canada, Norway and Sweden, scientific and technical workshops will be held to bring together scientists and community representatives to adapt the Ebsas descriptions.

Marine biologist and director of Sharky Management and Consulting, Carlos Julio Polo Silva, stressed that this historic decision will allow for better management and conservation of species in key areas for biodiversity. "The fact that we are creating a group with experts from different parts of the world is one of the key criteria to define which areas are relevant, not only for one species like sharks, but for many others. This will help us to describe, conserve and manage in a sustainable way," he said.

Finally, with one day of negotiations left, experts say it is unlikely that Colombia will be able to establish a mechanism for fair sharing of the benefits of digitised genetic sequences, an issue that was fundamental to the government but which caused disagreement among negotiators over who would provide the money.

The digitised genetic sequences are essentially the genetic information of plants and species used to make products (such as the genes for stevia) which, having become digital codes, no longer generate payments from the companies and multinationals that use this information, as it is sufficient to the sequences from a server on a website and use them in biotechnology projects. As the Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhamad, explained, the crux of the matter is the definition of who pays: multinationals, medium and large companies, or everyone.

Experts such as the president of the National Environmental Forum, Manuel Rodríguez Becerra, had already pointed out that although this could be a great legacy, the opposition of biopharmaceutical companies and mega-corporations to this idea could lead to a halt in this discussion, which, although it still has time to take place, will probably be postponed to the next summit.

A few hours before the end of the meeting, the government, according to Minister Muhamad, will concentrate on achieving what is missing in Article 8J, with the inclusion of Afro-descendant peoples in the document; so it is very likely that these two points will be the diplomatic legacies of the summit, which moved thousands of people but which, as usual in these meetings, was short on diplomacy.