For the first time, MIT submitted an organized commitment to the Global Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which this year was held from October 21 to November 1 in Cali, Colombia.
The 10 delegates to COP16 included faculty, researchers and students from MIT's Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI), the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), the Computer Science and artificial intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL ), the Department of Urban Studies. and Planning (DUSP), the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) and the Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy.
In previous years, MIT professors had sporadically participated in the discussions. This organized engagement, led by the ESI, is important because it brought together representatives from many of the groups working on biodiversity across the Institute; showcased the breadth of MIT research at more than 15 events, including panels, roundtables, and keynote presentations in the blue and green zones of the conference (the blue zone represents the main venue for official negotiations and discussions, and the green zone represents public events). ); and created an experiential learning opportunity for students who followed specific themes in negotiations and during side events.
The conference also brought together attendees from governments, non-governmental organizations, businesses, other academic institutions and professionals focused on halting global biodiversity loss and promoting 23 objectives of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), an international agreement adopted in 2022 to guide global efforts to protect and restore biodiversity until 2030.
MIT's involvement was particularly pronounced when addressing objectives related to the creation of coalitions of subnational governments (goals 11, 12, 14); technology and artificial intelligence for the conservation of biodiversity (goals 20 and 21); shape equitable markets (goals 3, 11 and 19); and inform an action plan for Afro-descendant communities (goals 3, 10 and 22).
Building coalitions of subnational governments
ESI's Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) Program was able to support two separate coalitions of Latin American cities, namely the Coalition of Cities Against Illicit Economies in the Chocó Biogeographic Region and the coalition of Amazonian Cities of Colombia, which signed with success statements to promote specific objectives of the KMGBF (objectives 11, 12, 14 mentioned above).
This was achieved through roundtables and discussions in which team members, including Marcela Angel, director of the MIT ESI research program; Angélica Mayolo, ESI Martin Luther King Fellow 2023-25; and Silvia Duque and Hannah Leung, students of the Master's in Urban Planning at MIT, presented a set of multi-scale actions that include transnational strategies, recommendations to strengthen local and regional institutions, and community actions to promote the conservation of the Chocó Biogeographic as an ecosystem ecological. corridor.
“There is an urgent need to deepen the relationship between academia and the local governments of cities located in biodiversity hotspots,” said Ángel. “Given the scale and unique conditions of Amazonian cities, pilot research projects present an opportunity to test and generate proof of concept. “These could generate the catalytic information needed to scale up conservation and climate adaptation efforts in socially and ecologically sensitive contexts.”
ESI research also provided key inputs for the creation of the Chocó Biogeographic Region Fund, a multi-donor fund launched within the framework of COP16 by a coalition composed of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Costa Rica. The fund aims to support biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and sustainable development efforts across the region.
technology and ai for biodiversity conservation
Data, technology and artificial intelligence are playing an increasingly important role in how we understand biodiversity and ecosystem change globally. Professor Sara Beery's research group at MIT is focusing on this intersection, developing artificial intelligence methods that enable environmental and species monitoring at unprecedented spatial, temporal, and taxonomic scales.
during the Scientific-Political Forum of the International Union for Biological Diversityhigh-level segment of COP16 focused on outlining recommendations from the scientific and academic community, Beery spoke on a panel alongside María Cecilia Londoño, scientific information manager at the Humboldt Institute and co-chair of the Global Biodiversity Observations Network, and Josh Tewksbury, director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, among others, on how these technological advances will help humanity achieve our biodiversity goals. The panel emphasized that innovation in ai was necessary, but with an emphasis on the direct partnership between humans and ai, the development of capabilities in ai and the need for data and ai policies to ensure equity in access and benefit from these technologies.
As a direct result of the session, ai was highlighted for the first time in the statement on behalf of science and academia delivered by Hernando García, director of the Humboldt Institute, and David Skorton, secretary general of the Smithsonian Institution, before the high -Segment at COP16 level.
That statement said: “To effectively address current and future challenges, urgent action is required on equity, governance, valuation, infrastructure, decolonization and policy frameworks around biodiversity data and artificial intelligence.”
Beery also hosted a panel at the GEOBON pavilion in the Blue Zone on scaling up biodiversity monitoring with ai, bringing together global leaders in ai research, infrastructure development, capacity and community building, and policy. and regulations. The panel was started and experts were selected from among the participants in the recent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.agci.org/workshops/701Nu000005r87pIAA/ai-for-biodiversity-overcoming-barriers-to-impact”>Aspen Global Change Institute Workshop on Overcoming Barriers to ai Impact for Biodiversityco-hosted by Beery.
Setting up equitable markets
In a side event jointly organized by ESI and CAF-Development Bank of Latin America, researchers from ESI's Natural Climate Solutions Program, including Marcela Angel; Angelica Mayolo; Jimena Muzio, associate researcher at ESI; and Martín Pérez Lara, ESI research affiliate and director of Impact and Monitoring of Forest Climate Solutions at the US World Wildlife Fund, presented the results of a study titled “Voluntary Carbon Markets for Social Impact: Evaluation Integral Role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) in Forest Carbon Projects in Colombia. The report highlighted the structural barriers that hinder the effective participation of IPLCs and proposed a conceptual framework to evaluate the participation of IPLCs in voluntary carbon markets.
Communicating these findings is important because the global carbon market has experienced a credibility crisis since 2023, influenced by critical assessments in academic literature, journalism question the quality of mitigation results, and persistent worries on the commitment of private actors to IPCLs. However, carbon forestry projects have expanded rapidly in the territories of indigenous, Afro-descendant and local communities, and it is necessary to evaluate the relationships between private actors and IPLCs and propose avenues for equitable participation.
The presentation of the research and the subsequent panel with representatives of the association of Carbon Project Developers in Colombia Asocarbono, Fondo Acción and CAF also discussed recommendations for all actors in the carbon certificates value chain, including those focused on promote equitable distribution of benefits and safeguard compliance. , greater accountability, better governance structures, institutionality and strengthened regulatory frameworks, necessary to create an inclusive and transparent market.
Inform an action plan for Afro-descendant communities
The Afro-Inter-American Forum on Climate Change (AIFCC), an international network working to highlight the fundamental role of Afro-descendant peoples in global climate action, was also present at COP16.
At the Afro Summit, Mayolo presented key recommendations prepared collectively by AIFCC members to the technical secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The recommendations emphasize:
- create financial tools for conservation and support the territorial rights of people of African descent;
- including a credit guarantee fund for countries that recognize collective land titling by people of African descent and research into their contributions to biodiversity conservation;
- call for greater representation of Afro-descendant communities in international political forums;
- capacity building for local governments; and
- strategies for inclusive growth in green businesses and energy transition.
These actions aim to promote the inclusive and sustainable development of Afro-descendant populations.
“Attending COP16 with a great group from MIT bringing knowledge and informed perspectives across 15 different events was a privilege and an honor,” says MIT ESI Director John E. Fernández. “This demonstrates the value of the ESI as a powerful research and convening body at MIT. Science tells us unequivocally that climate change and biodiversity loss are the two biggest challenges we face as a species and planet. “MIT has the capacity, experience, and passion to address not only the former, but also the latter, and ESI is committed to facilitating the best contributions across the institute for the critical years ahead.”
A more complete description of the conference is available through Introduction to COP16 from the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative.
