USCIB Leads US Business Delegation to UN Biodiversity COP17

USCIB is in Yerevan, Armenia October 19-30 for the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UN CBD COP17). COP17 marks the first Global Review of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF); a comprehensive stocktaking process to evaluate whether governments are on track to meet their agreed global biodiversity targets. The outcomes of this Global Review will set the direction for national biodiversity and nature regulations across key markets for US businesses in the coming years.

On the first day of COP17, Whitney Baird, President and CEO at USCIB, met with Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the CBD to discuss the importance of meaningful private sector engagement and participation in the UN biodiversity process, especially as it relates to the Cali Fund for access and benefit sharing on digital sequence information.

Agnes Vinblad, Senior Director, Environment and Sustainable Development at USCIB, is leading a delegation of member companies to the COP. During the coming two weeks of intense negotiations, USCIB policy priorities include issues related to biodiversity and nature finance, the climate and biodiversity policy nexus, and technical items related to the continued operationalization of the Cali Fund. Developments on how to approach pollution in the context of biodiversity is another important area for USCIB members.

Stay tuned for a full recap of the negotiations and USCIB's advocacy on the ground in next week's newsletter.