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Two facets of the same issue’: officials emphasize the connections between climate change and the degradation of nature.

At the Cop16 summit in Colombia, representatives engaged in discussions amid severe weather events and ecosystem collapse, highlighting the urgent connection between climate change and biodiversity loss. As world leaders convened, they were confronted with alarming reports of environmental degradation from their home countries. In Brazil, wildfires ravaged over 22 million hectares of the Amazon and wetlands, while flooding in Spain claimed over 200 lives. Siberian boreal forests exhibited worrying signs of carbon sink degradation due to drought and logging, and Canada experienced its second-worst wildfire season in two decades.

Traditionally, climate and nature have been viewed as separate issues in global negotiations. However, as Cop16 drew to a close, ministers emphasized the interdependence of climate and biodiversity, asserting that resolving either crisis necessitates a holistic approach. Although they agreed on a text addressing the connections between the two issues, the negotiations fell short of committing to a fossil fuel phase-out.

UK Environment Secretary Steve Reed remarked on the realization of the intertwined nature of climate and biodiversity crises during the summit. He noted that in Colombia, these issues are seen as one and the same, unlike in the UK, where the focus has been more on climate action, potentially due to greater nature depletion in the global north. Colombia's Environment Minister and Cop16 President, Susana Muhamad, echoed this sentiment, arguing that effective greenhouse gas emission reductions must be complemented by the protection and restoration of natural ecosystems.

Throughout the summit, Muhamad emphasized the need for a dual approach: decarbonization and nature restoration. This integrated perspective was also evident at the previous year's Cop28 climate summit, where countries agreed to align their climate plans with commitments to nature. Growing scientific concerns about the responses of forests, oceans, and other natural carbon sinks to climate change have led to an alarming decline in carbon absorption.

Countries like Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo advocated for greater acknowledgment of the climate-regulating benefits of their vast rainforests, which are under threat. DRC's Environment Minister, Ève Bazaiba, stressed that her country's forests contribute to rainfall as far away as Egypt, while Brazil's Environment Minister, Marina Silva, highlighted the need for increased funding for forest conservation.

Smaller forested nations, such as Sierra Leone, underscored the critical role of ecosystems in climate mitigation. The degradation of forests is already impacting rural communities reliant on rain-fed agriculture, leading to decreased yields and increased food insecurity. Abdulai, Sierra Leone's Environment and Climate Change Minister, pointed out that while these forests are vital global assets, the benefits of their preservation are not equitably shared.

Concerns about forest loss also arose from Nigeria, where a 13% decrease in forest cover since 2000 has been recorded. The country's Environment Minister, Iziaq Kunle Salako, emphasized the significance of forests in achieving net-zero targets and called attention to their central role in UN conventions on climate change and biodiversity.

Overall, the discussions at Cop16 underscored the urgent need for an integrated approach to tackling climate change and biodiversity loss, recognizing the interconnectedness of these global challenges.