CALI, Colombia – UN chief Antonio Guterres on Oct 20 urged “significant investment” in a fund created to safeguard earth’s biodiversity as he addressed delegates to the world’s biggest nature protection conference in Cali, Colombia.

       The meeting, which officially opens on Oct 21, had a ceremonial kick-off with Cali on high alert after threats from a guerrilla group.

       Mr Guterres made a video address to guests gathered for the event taking place under the protection of thousands of Colombian police and soldiers, aided by UN and US security personnel.

       “We must leave Cali with significant investment in the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) and commitments to mobilise other sources of public and private finance,” Mr Guterres said.

       The GBFF was created in 2023 to help countries achieve the goals of the so-called Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in Canada in 2022 with 23 targets to “halt and reverse” the loss of nature by 2030.

       So far, countries have made about US$250 million (S$330 million) in commitments to the fund, according to agencies monitoring progress.

       The fund is part of a broader agreement made in Montreal two years ago for countries to mobilise at least US$200 billion per year by 2030 for biodiversity, including US$20 billion per year by 2025 from rich nations to help the developing world.

       Mr Guterres highlighted that destroying nature increases conflict, hunger and disease, fuels poverty and slashes gross domestic product.

       “A collapse in nature’s services – such as pollination and clean water – would see the global economy lose trillions of dollars a year, with the poorest hardest hit,” he said.

       Avoiding such a future would entail countries “honouring promises on finance and accelerating support to developing countries”, Mr Guterres said.

       “Those profiting from nature must contribute to its protection and restoration.”

       About 12,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries, including 140 government ministers and a dozen heads of state, were due to attend the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, running until Nov 1.

       Themed “Peace with Nature”, it has the urgent task of coming up with monitoring and funding mechanisms to ensure the 23 UN targets can be met.

       But Colombia’s EMC rebel group, a splinter of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, guerrilla army that disbanded in 2017, has cast a shadow over the event by urging foreign delegations to stay away and warning the conference “will fail”.

       The threat came after EMC fighters were targeted in a military raid in the south-west Cauca department, where the group is accused of engaging in drug trafficking and illegal mining.

       Cali is the nearest big city to territory controlled by the EMC, which has been engaged in fraught peace negotiations with the government.

       Colombian President Gustavo Petro also attended the ceremonial event on Oct 20, two days after saying he was “nervous” about security.

       But Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder insisted that “we have been working since February to safeguard the city of Cali... We have more than 10,000 police officers, we also have detachments of the Colombian Armed Forces guarding the entire perimeter of the city. We have air protection, protection against drones”.

       The delegates have their work cut out for them, with just five years left to achieve the target of placing 30 per cent of land and sea areas under protection by 2030.

       World-renowned British primate expert Jane Goodall warned ahead of the summit that there was little time to reverse the downward slide.

       “The time for words and false promises is past if we want to save the planet,” Ms Goodall told AFP this week.

       According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which keeps a red list of threatened animals and plants, more than a quarter of assessed species – about a million altogether – are threatened with extinction.

       Host Colombia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, and Petro has made environmental protection a priority.

       But the country has struggled to extricate itself from six decades of armed conflict between leftist guerrillas such as the EMC, right-wing paramilitaries, drug gangs and the state. AFP