The National Biodiversity Centre, is part of the Bhutanese delegation participating in the 16th Conference of Parties (COP 16) to the CBD in Cali, Colombia. The conference, which runs from October 21 to November 1, 2024, is themed “Peace with Nature,” aimed at assessing progress and advancing the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which was adopted at COP 15 in December 2022. The conference will also aim to accelerate global actions needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. Another priority topic under the conference is the fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from digital sequence information on genetic resources, an important aspect for safeguarding biodiversity while ensuring economic benefits.
The delegation is led by the Department of Environment and Climate Change and includes representatives from the members of the Technical Working Group from the Department of Agriculture, Department of Livestock, Department of Forests & Park Services, Department of Macro-Fiscal & Development Finance, and Women & Children Division of the Ministry of Education and Skill Development.
The participation of Bhutan’s TWG members at COP16 is generously supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Bhutan and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Nepal.