COP16 concludes in Rome with a landmark agreement to mobilise resources for people and nature
Source: gov.uk (2025-02-28)

The UK welcomes the positive conclusion to negotiations at the resumed meeting of CBD COP16, which saw the international community make progress towards halting and reversing nature loss by 2030

- The agreement sets out a strategy for global collaboration on raising finance from all sources
- A finalised Monitoring Framework will allow the international community to increase transparency on the global effort to address the nature crisis
The extended session of COP16 in Rome ended today (Friday 28 February), after participants landed on a significant new agreement to address the global nature crisis.

The deal will see global collaboration on raising finance for biodiversity, and details of the monitoring framework of the Global Biodiversity Framework targets finalised to accelerate nature recovery.

An agreement on resource mobilisation creates a clear strategy for global collaboration on raising finance from all sources to fund the work necessary to achieve the goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The finalisation of a Monitoring Framework and the global approach to reviewing progress in delivering the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, will ensure shared approach to tracking progress with transparency and accountability.

Ruth Davis, UK Special Representative for Nature, who was present at the negotiations in Rome said:

“This agreement is a significant step forward in the effort to tackle the nature crisis.

“As the need for action becomes ever more urgent, a moment of genuine progress like this is heartening to see. Now, we must build on the spirit of co-operation shown in Rome to mobilise the resources needed to restore nature.

“This is essential to help maintain food security, store carbon and tackle the impacts of floods and droughts.”

UK Nature Minister Mary Creagh said:

“Nature provides everything we need to live. Our prosperity at home and around the world relies on the health of the natural world.”

“The UK has been active in calling for an ambitious agreement to achieve our international targets to protect and restore the natural world.”

“This agreement follows through on that ambition, and we look forward to working with other nations to protect and restore nature across the globe.”

The UK played a key role in working with the parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to finalise complex discussions on nature finance, and to agree a monitoring framework which will enable all Parties to measure and report in a consistent manner the delivery of their national actions. This will significantly enhance the ability of the international community to monitor the global state of nature, as well as understanding how best to focus future interventions.

Negotiations in Rome saw the launch of the Cali Fund for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources. This is an important step to allow companies who utilise genetic databases derived from nature, such as the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and biotech sectors, to direct funds on a voluntary basis towards the Indigenous Peoples and local communities who safeguard biodiversity.

The Government also published the UK National Biodiversity Strategy & Action Plan (NBSAP) during the resumed COP16, which commits to achieving all 23 targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework at home. It highlights the UK’s international leadership to halt and reverse nature loss as work continues to halt the decline of species by 2030.

This extended session follows the original meeting of COP16 in Cali, Colombia in November 2024. The UK will seek to build on the success of COP16 at the UNFCCC COP30 in Brazil later this year and CBD COP17 in Armenia in 2026