Our main presenter was Mr. Alain Tellier. He is a retired career diplomat from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada (Global Affairs Canada), with over 30 years of experience representing Canada on the international scene.

Over that period, Mr. Tellier held postings at the Canadian Mission to the United Nations in New York, at the Canadian Mission to the UN in Geneva, a bilateral posting at the Consulate General of Canada to Hong Kong and Macao, and a posting at the Joint Delegation of Canada to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels.

He held the positions of Director for Treaty Law, Executive Director for Law of the Sea and Environmental Law, Deputy Director of the Crime and Terrorism Division, and Deputy Director of the International Criminal, Security and Diplomatic Law Division.

Our prior Nov. 2024 webinar on biodiversity.

Global Greens Demand for COP 16 include:

1. Urgent Action on NBSAPs: COP16 must demand that all Parties immediately initiate or accelerate the development, finalization, and implementation of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) for 30x30, whilst recognizing that this is a minimum. Parties must also commit to adopting a robust monitoring framework, global review procedures to ensure accountability and ensure the quality of protected areas, particularly biodiversity hotspots.
   
   
2. Secure Finance for Biodiversity: COP16 must deliver a clear commitment to providing reliable and sufficient financial resources for the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). This includes guaranteeing timely, accessible funding for Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and other rights-holders, while aligning public, private, and other financial flows to support biodiversity goals.
   
   
3. Equitable Sharing of Genetic Resources: COP16 must finalize the multilateral mechanism for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of digital sequence information (DSI) related to genetic resources. This is a social justice issue essential to ensure that all countries and communities benefit fairly from nature’s genetic information.
   
   
4.  Human Rights at the Heart: COP16 must establish concrete measures to mainstream biodiversity across sectors and tackle the root causes of biodiversity loss. All decisions must incorporate a whole-of-society approach and be rooted in human rights principles, ensuring accountability mechanisms that protect vulnerable communities and ecosystems. Particular emphasis must be on women, Indigenous Peoples, intergenerational connections, and local traditional knowledge.
   
   
5. An Integration of Nature and Climate: Global problems require well-integrated global solutions. COP16 must set the stage for stronger integration of nature-based solutions in climate actions at future climate COPs, particularly ahead of COP29. It must also officially recognize the intrinsic links between nature, peace, and conflict resolution in global environmental governance, as well as the Sustainable Develop