Members of Brazil's Indigenous delegation arrive to the opening ceremony of COP16, a United Nations' biodiversity conference, in Cali, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. CALI, Colombia: The world's biggest nature protection conference opened in Colombia on Monday with calls for urgent action and financing to reverse humankind's rapacious destruction of biodiversity.
About 23,000 delegates, including some 100 government ministers and a dozen heads of state were accredited for the largest-ever biodiversity COP, running until Nov 1 in the Colombian city of Cali. Members of Brazil's Indigenous delegation pose for photo before the opening ceremony of COP16, a United Nations' biodiversity conference, in Cali, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. 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.
Indigenous Colombian people perform during the opening ceremony of COP16, a United Nations' biodiversity conference, in Cali, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. On Sunday, UN chief Antonio Guterres urged countries to"convert words into action" and fatten the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund created last year to meet the UN targets.
Afro-Colombian women perform during the opening ceremony of COP16, a United Nations' biodiversity conference, in Cali, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature , which keeps a red list of at-risk animals and plants, more than a quarter of assessed species are threatened with extinction.