To learn more, follow our live coverage from the Biodiversity COP16.
Biodiversity is essential to life on Earth, providing the foundation for ecosystems that sustain human and planetary health. Yet we are losing biodiversity at an alarming rate, with over a million species at risk of extinction in the coming decades.
This loss threatens not only wildlife but also the natural systems that support agriculture, climate regulation, and clean water – putting our very survival at stake.
In 2022, countries around the world took a historic step by signing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). This agreement set ambitious targets, but one critical question remains: Will this be the year we make bold moves towards implementing the GBF and saving our planet’s biodiversity?
The upcoming United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16), set to take place from 21 October to 1 November in Cali, Colombia, will be a decisive moment for global biodiversity policy.
Join us for a compelling discussion featuring three members of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN): Africa co-coordinator Kevin Lunzalu, policy co-coordinator Josefa Tauli and Colombia coordinator Xiomara Acevedo.
In this first episode of our “What the COP?!” series from the Youth in Landscapes Initiative in collaboration with the Global Landscapes Forum, we will explore the insights and experiences of our guests ahead of these critical negotiations. Learn why the voices of civil society matter and how local action can lead to global change.
‘What the COP?!’ is a series hosted by the Youth in Landscapes Initiative that aims to spotlight the most pressing and often overlooked issues in international climate negotiations, with a focus on perspectives and insights from young people in the Global South.
Kevin Lunzalu is the co-coordinator of GYBN Africa. He is passionate about transformative and youth-inclusive conservation models. His work has largely centered on fostering open spaces for inclusion of youth voices in policy frameworks and driving on-ground conservation.
Josefa Cariño Tauli is an Ibaloi-Kankanaey Igorot Indigenous youth from the Cordillera region in the Philippines. She is the policy co-coordinator of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN), recognized as the international youth coordination platform of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Sefa is one of the seven members of the UN Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change. She is also the Advocacy Officer of Partners for Indigenous Knowledge Philippines, working on strengthening indigenous knowledge and advocating for human rights-based biodiversity governance in her country.
Xiomara Acevedo Navarro is a professional in International relations and a specialist in climate change, cities and leadership. In 2012, Xiomara founded the non-governmental organization (NGO) Barranquilla + 20, a youth and women-led organization dedicated to the education and leadership of children, youth, and women in climate justice, biodiversity, water, and gender in Colombia and Latin America. She has been an active member of GYBN and currently coordinates the road to COP16, the Global Youth Biodiversity Summit and the GYBN Colombian chapter.
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