Real economy and Indigenous leaders call on Colombia and Brazil to drive a ‘year of united action on climate, nature and food’

Briefing Room 29.10.24

Posted by Nature4Climate
Share
Ministers Marina Silva and Susana Muhamad (Colombia) at the COP16 on Biodiversity in Cali, Colombia. Photo: Felipe Werneck/MMA

Ministers Marina Silva and Susana Muhamad (Colombia) at the COP16 on Biodiversity in Cali, Colombia. Photo: Felipe Werneck/MMA

WRAPPING-UP 

  • At COP16, over 70 global leaders – representing business, finance, science, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities – launch an open letter to Presidents Gustavo Petro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recognizing their leadership in taking integrated action on climate, nature and food systems.

     

  • Signatories express their support for the COP16 and COP30 Presidents to mobilize actors globally in a year of united action from Cali to Belém.

     

  • Meanwhile, new research from Nature4Climate reveals only one-third of nature-related policies published since the Paris Agreement have budgets, underscoring the urgent need for accelerated finance for implementation.

More than 70 global leaders today announced their support for President Gustava Petro of Colombia and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil’s leadership on integrated action on climate, nature and food systems, and highlight the historic opportunity the two Latin American countries have to lead all actors in accelerating global progress from UN CBD COP16 to UNFCCC COP30. 

As hosts of COP16 and COP30, Colombia and Brazil can forge a Latin American partnership that will guide the world by demonstrating the interconnectedness of climate and nature”, the signatories state in the letter.

 

The letter comes at a crucial moment during the COP16 UN Biodiversity Summit, as nations negotiate the Global Biodiversity Framework and prepare to update their national climate plans (known as Nationally Determined Contributions) ahead of the February 2025 deadline.

Notable signatories include former UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, Chair of the Elders Mary Robinson, climate scientist Johan Rockström as well as Indigenous leaders Juan Carlos Jintiach and Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, business leaders Natura, Danone, Nestlé, finance leaders Legal & General Group plc, Southbridge, PRI and IIGCC, and civil society and NGO leaders Instituto Talanoa, Transforma, Movilizatorio and Nature4Climate.

Signatories provide their steadfast commitment to work with governments globally to deliver a year of united action on climate, nature and food systems, pointing to three priority outcomes: 

1. Strengthen national climate plans to deliver a triple win for people, nature and food security by aligning decade-defining NDCs and national biodiversity strategies (NBSAPs) and integrating national food systems pathways across both – with clear policies and action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, including by ending deforestation and strengthening ocean protection by 2030.

2. Scale up investment for nature and food system transformation by aligning financial flows with the Paris Agreement and Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, delivering on its biodiversity finance commitment and at least tripling finance by 2030, prioritizing direct access to finance for farmers, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.

3. Support the full and effective participation of farmers, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities across climate, food system and nature policy development, decision-making and monitoring, ensuring that these changemakers’ rights and contributions to unlocking sustainable development, economic prosperity and safeguarding of our planet are front and center.

At a high-level reception in Cali, Sônia Guajajara, Minister of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, and Nohora Quintero, Ambassador of Colombia, welcomed the signal of support from all actors in advancing the dual climate and nature agendas.

Minister Guajajara said: “We enthusiastically received a letter of support as we work towards COP30. I was also able to speak about the importance of direct funding to Indigenous Peoples and organizations to continue protecting biodiversity while respecting their ways of life, as well as the significance of funding from wealthy countries for the implementation of governmental public policies aimed at the regularization, protection, and management of Indigenous territories.”

 

>>>>>>  READ THE LETTER AND THE FULL LIST OF SIGNATORIES  IN ENGLISH 
>>>>>>  LEA LA CARTA EN ESPAÑOL Y LA LISTA COMPLETA DE FIRMANTES 
>>>>>>  LEIA A CARTA EM PORTUGUÊS E A LISTA COMPLETA DE SIGNATÁRIOS

THE FINANCE GAP

Coinciding with the release of the letter, the Nature4Climate Coalition publishes new research that reveals a significant gap still to close across these priority action areas. The Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Policy Tracker, which analyzed over 1,300 policies from 190 countries and finds:

  • Only one-third of nature-related policies published since the Paris Agreement have allocated budgets.
  • Fewer than 19% of policies explicitly mention Indigenous Peoples, and less than 0.5% – just 6 out of 1,300 policies – address Indigenous Peoples’ equity specifically.

As governments update their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), signatories call on leaders around the world to urgently accelerate progress towards these three outcomes and “make ‘peace with nature’ the principle that gives shape to these national climate action plans”. 

Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, comments: “When it comes to the climate and nature crises, we have long known that we solve both or we solve neither. We have an historic opportunity to strengthen the resilience of nature, and our own personal resilience in the face of the climate crisis.”

Oswaldo Muca Castizo, General Coordinator of the Organización Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas de la Amazonía Colombiana (OPIAC), comments: “Indigenous peoples will continue to lead the fight to defend life and our territories. We urge governments to support our full and effective participation and representation so we can continue contributing our knowledge and government systems to deliver the global goals on climate change, biodiversity loss and transformation of food systems.”

David Atkin, CEO at the Principles for Responsible Investment, comments: “The importance of aligning global financial flows with a climate and nature-positive future cannot be understated. More than half of global GDP is dependent on nature. Taking steps now to safeguard biodiversity and the natural world, through the alignment of public and private finance interests, will help deliver a prosperous future for economies and societies around the world.”

James Lloyd, Coalition Lead at Nature4Climate, comments: “While we are seeing positive momentum in the adoption of NbS policies, new data reveals governments are not backing their political commitments with allocated budgets and largely overlooking Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in their plans. This is a serious missed opportunity.”

***
Notes:

About the open letter

The letter was convened by Groundswell – a collaboration between the Bezos Earth Fund, Global Optimism and Systems Change Lab. For media inquiries please contact ellie@globaloptimism.com or freya@globaloptimism.com.

About the NbS Policy Tracker research

The fourth edition of the NbS Policy Tracker, developed in partnership with Arboretica, provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of global nature-based solutions policies. The Tracker identifies and analyzes policies that integrate NbS as a key mechanism for addressing climate and biodiversity challenges. The tracker covers 191 countries and examines policies in English, French, Spanish, and Russian, utilizing artificial intelligence to analyze over two million online pages. The analysis captures over 1,300 policies, all enacted since the Paris Agreement.

The Tracker also showcases promising developments through case studies from eight countries, including Brazil’s integration of NbS into tourism planning, Canada’s incorporation of Indigenous rights into environmental protection, and Vietnam’s comprehensive water resource management approach.

Background figures

  • 1,306 Nature-based Solutions (NbS) policies from 190 countries are collated in the N4C Global NbS database.
  • NbS remains dramatically underfunded by governments at US$200 billion per year globally (UNEP).
  • We need this to almost triple to US$542 billion per year by 2030 to meet the Rio Convention targets on limiting climate change and the Biodiversity Plan targets.
  • Currently for every US$3 of public funding, only US$1 of private finance is mobilized. Finance flows to activities harming nature were more than 30 times larger than protective measures

“When it comes to the climate and nature crises, we have long known that we solve both or we solve neither.”

Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC.