This commentary is by W. John Kress of Dorset, Curt Lindberg of Waitsfield and Walter Poleman of Burlington. They are members of the Vermont Biodiversity Alliance.The 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, convened in Cali, Colombia, has ended. The two weeks were packed with plenaries, regional meetings, contact groups, friends of the chairs, summits, side events, focus groups, presentations, informal discussions and outside protests.With 23,000 participants representing more than 190 countries, the conference halls were bursting. With all the political, economic and social turmoil going on in the world, it is refreshing that the one thing on everyone’s mind at this conference was the planet’s biodiversity and how to conserve it. More simply put: life on Earth.The three goals of the convention are the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of biodiversity, and the equitable access and benefit sharing of biodiversity. To achieve these goals the convention has identified 23 essential targets. These are known as the global biodiversity framework, and it was established at the 15th Conference of the Parties.These targets address plans for protected areas, habitat restoration, capacity building, invasive species, genetic resources, digital sequence information, business and finance, and the rights of Indigenous peoples, women and youth. Of course, everyone has strong opinions and positions on each issue. Following the adoption of these 23 targets at COP15 in Montreal in 2022, the parties met this year in Colombia to discuss progress and strategies toward meeting them.We Vermonters attended the first week of COP16 representing the Vermont Biodiversity Alliance as observers to see what this whole thing was about and bring our own state’s perspective and experience in protecting biodiversity to this international forum. Of concern to many of us is the fact the United States has never actually ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity. Although it was signed by President Bill Clinton many years ago, the U.S. Senate has yet to take action.This means that we, as Americans, are the only U.N. member state that has no seat at the negotiating table, and our voices can only be heard from the outside. It is also a little embarrassing that our national government has more or less ignored this critical global forum (The U.S. State Department was represented, but not as a formal party to the negotiations). READ MORE Vermont group listens and learns at UN biodiversity summit in Colombia by Klara Bauters October 21, 2024, 6:45 pmNovember 20, 2024, 10:46 am One thing that we came to Cali to determine was if we need an active statewide coalition so that Vermont will have a stronger voice at the Convention on Biological Diversity. The clear answer to that proposition is YES. Everyone we talked to in Cali from around the world was keenly interested in what we are doing in Vermont, especially our Act 59 (Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Act) that mandates the protection of 30% of land in the state by the year 2030 and 50% by the year 2050. Although “30×30” is a key target of the international framework, Vermont is out in the lead to get this target accomplished thanks to our state representatives, many Vermont conservation organizations, the Agency for Natural Resources, and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. Equally important was that in Cali we met American citizens from other states dedicated to conserving biodiversity. A delegation from California included state representatives such as the secretary of the natural resources agency, non-governmental organizations, academicians and private conservation groups, all of whom have formed a coalition similar to the Vermont Biodiversity Alliance. We also met and shared ideas on the Convention on Biological Diversity with an alliance from San Francisco and a subnational delegation from Quebec, Vermont’s neighbor to the north.It was immensely encouraging to meet and discuss with these fellow COP16 attendees how state, regional and local entities can advance biodiversity conservation in the absence of leadership at the federal level. The importance of such subnational efforts on biodiversity conservation was emphasized at COP16 as being vital to success. Such efforts become even more important in this country, given the results of the recent presidential election.The international issues surrounding nature protection are complex but not insurmountable. Our collective efforts could not come at a more important time as biodiversity across the globe sharply declines and leads to cascading, detrimental effects on human health and well-being.Vermont — although we are a small state — has much to contribute, and we are determined to have an impact. We encourage all Vermonters to get involved in the conservation of biodiversity and especially to support the implementation of Act 59 in our state.Read the story on VTDigger here: W. John Kress, Curt Lindberg and Walter Poleman: It’s time to get serious about nature.