Emilce Cuda: 'COP16 on biodiversity must also focus on people'

By Vatican News – Lisa Zengarini

Around 15,000 delegates from 200 countries, including 140 government ministers and a dozen heads of state, along with environmental activists, indigenous groups and Church representatives are gathered in Cali, Colombia, for the 16th UN biodiversity Summit, known as COP16.

"Peace with Nature"

The summit, which is the equivalent of the COP on climate, takes place from October 21 to November 1 under the theme "Peace with Nature" to tackle the pressing global challenges to biodiversity threatening the very survival of our planet. 

Aiming to promote international cooperation to protect ecosystems and strengthen global environmental policies, COP16 takes as its roadmap the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework (GBF), a landmark plan adopted at COP15 in Canada to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2030. The framework, dubbed as the "Paris Agreement of biodiversity”, contains 23 targets including protecting 30 per cent of land and seas, halving the risk from pesticides and restoring 30 per cent of degraded areas.

This is the first time since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro that a global environmental event is hosted by a South American country, anticipating next year’s UN Climate Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil.

Church participating in the Summit

The choice of Cali is particularly significant, as Colombia is an unrivaled treasure trove of biodiversity but, at the same time, one of the most dangerous places  in the world for environmental social activists fighting against illegal mining, monoculture farming, and deforestation: 73 murders occurred in 2023, accounting for 40% of all such killings worldwide.

The Church in Colombia is actively involved in these issues, responding to Laudato Si’s call to take action for the care of our common home, and is taking part in several events organized in the Green Zone, a place of discussion open to civil society and  non-governmental organizations to strengthen citizen participation in environmental decision making.

Sharing Laudato si's call for action for our common home

 Also attending the summit is a delegation of Vatican officials, alongside the Apostolic Nuncio, Monsignor Paolo Rudelli. Among them, Emilce Cuda, the Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, who brought Pope Francis' message about caring for Creation but also on the right of marginalized populations to participate in government decisions that affect them.

Making the social face of the environmental crisis visible

The Argentinian theologian attended three events, including an “International Forum of Afro-descendants" on 24 October  which discussed Pope Francis' teachings on integral ecology in Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti, as well as Querida Amazonia. In her keynote speech at the forum, Ms. Cuda reiterated the need to make the social face of the environmental and biodiversity crisis visible recalling that the Catholic Social teaching defends not only the life of animal and plant species but also that of people. “This – she said - means involving indigenous and Afro-descendant populations at decision-making tables regarding the use and abuse of natural resources.”

Involving indigenous peoples

Ms. Cuda also participated in an interfaith dialogue organized by Oxford University and Ecocitizen on how religions can work together to promote the care of biodiversity. Another event she attended, organized by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Conservation International discussed supporting the efforts of indigenous and Afro-descendant populations to safeguard natural ecosystems, through new economic instruments, such as biodiversity credits.

According to to Ms. Cuda these events were useful and fruitful as they allowed to collect funds for Church initiatives aimed at protecting both ecosystems and indigenous cultures. She told Vatican News that the Pope’s message had a good reception from governments, businesses, and financial institutions. “The Church can be proud of this”, she said.