The delegates applauded at the headquarters of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome after rich countries and developing countries hammered out a compromise to collect and deliver the billions of dollars needed to slow down the rapid loss of biological diversity.
This applause is directed at all of you. You have done a fantastic job, says meeting chair Susana Muhamad from Colombia.
Canada's Environment and Climate Minister Steven Guilbeault was one of those who joined in the chorus of praise.
Our efforts show that international cooperation can bring hope in a time of geopolitical uncertainty, says Guilbeault.
USA did not participate
The agreements, reached a few hours after midnight on the last day of negotiations, consist of two main tracks – finding billions of dollars in extra funding for biological diversity and deciding on the institutions that will deliver these funds.
The USA, which has not joined the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, sent no representatives to the meeting.
Last November, the UN meeting COP16 in Colombia ended without resolving any of the key issues. An extra meeting in Rome was the solution to finalize the details.
This is something very beautiful because it's about us gathering to protect life, and there can't be anything more important than that, says Muhamad.
Meeting chair Muhamad calls the agreement "historic" and adds in a statement: "We achieved the adoption of the first global plan to finance the conservation of life on Earth".
Threatened with extinction
One million species are threatened with extinction, while unsustainable agriculture and unsustainable consumption destroy forests, deplete soils, and spread plastic pollution to the most remote areas of the Earth.
"The countries have shown during this meeting that they want to find a common way forward on difficult issues. The challenge is now to get enough resources", says Ankin Ljungman, delegate for WWF International during the COP16 meeting, in a press release.
She further emphasizes that countries must now accelerate their work and draw up national plans for implementation.
"We now expect Sweden to draw up its plan and for it to be ambitious", says Ljungman.
