By Stephanie Martinez, UCI Blum Center PhD student

Last month, I had the exciting opportunity to represent the Blum Center at the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP16). While COPs such as this are at the center of my studies, I’d never had the opportunity to attend one in person. These are some of my reflections on what it was like to be on-the-ground at one of the most influential global convenings around biodiversity. 

Stephanie Martinez at COP16.

A plenary session at COP16.

If you’ve ever heard the term COP (“Conference of the Parties”), it’s probably been in reference to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). That is the international, headline-making climate change conference that happens every year in a new country (it’s actually taking place this month in Baku, Azerbaijan). However, other parts of the United Nations also use the acronym for their regular high-level gatherings, including the Convention on Biological Diversity. This is what I attended – CBD COP16.  

This year’s CBD COP16 was held in Cali, Colombia. Each COP has a theme, and this year’s was Peace With Nature. This is a theme at the heart of work coming out of the Blum Center, particularly around the environment and peacebuilding. At the heart of most of COP16 was deliberation over the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which was adopted at the last COP.  As an observer and delegate for the Blum Center, I was granted access to plenaries and side events, where I learned from and connected with activists, non-governmental organization leaders, scholars, country delegates, and members of the UN. 

What did the day-to-day look like? Every morning, I would hop on one of the buses that were continuously running between the hotels and the conference site at the Blue Zone (more on this later). Without fail, during each commute, I met someone new who was excited to chat for the entire ride about their work and perspectives on biodiversity and how to confront our environmental crises. I learned, I connected, and I was challenged in many ways to reconsider some of my own perspectives. As a grad student, these were also helpful opportunities to practice different articulations of my research. 

Most days, that commute took me to the Blue Zone. The Blue Zone was the area that was only open to accredited delegates – the space for the formal negotiations. This is where country and civil society representatives worked on the text of the agreements that would guide their commitments towards biodiversity in the coming years. 

An evening at the Blue Zone

The ICCA Consortium holds a press conference in the Blue Zone.

This is also the area where, from morning to night, there was a non-stop agenda of side events that included panel presentations, group discussions, press conferences, and many rows of booths hosted by countries, non-profit organizations, and UN bodies. Many of the events I attended were related to women environmental defenders, Indigenous knowledges and governance, science and policy, and nature-based solutions. The below photo was taken during a press conference held by the ICCA Consortium, an association of Indigenous Peoples and community custodians. Their conference called on the international community “to listen to our voices, recognize our authority over the territories we have cared for over generations, and support us with the necessary resources to continue being guardians of biodiversity.” 

COP16 also included an equally grand Green Zone. The Green Zone, a short bus ride away from the Blue Zone, was a bustling space in Cali that I would compare to a biodiversity festival. Open to the public, it more heavily featured organizations, activists, and businesses local to Colombia, as well as an exciting line-up of artists and musicians.

A mural in the Green Zone.

People enjoying the Blue Zone.

Visiting both the Blue Zone and the Green Zone showed me the ways in which topics such as biodiversity preservation, knowledge justice, nature-based solutions, One Health, and conservation are defined (or not), disagreed upon, contextualized, and actualized at every scale – from the community to the world. I was able to see firsthand why activists continue to attend the COPs, mobilizing and sharing their frustrations (as exemplified by this declaration by the Assembly of Climate Justice Networks of Latin America and the Caribbean) on the glacial pace and market-based inclinations of this body, while never ceding any opportunities to move the needle on inclusion and action. My own feelings align with this frustration. However, I also see why civil society continues to participate robustly in these spaces, as they allow for advocacy and state powerholders to brush shoulders and demand accountability in ways that are not always available in national contexts. As a student studying knowledge justice in places like the COPs, my experience was an overwhelming learning opportunity, and one that I hope I can reciprocate through my future scholarship.

Stephanie Martinez at the Blue Zone