LocationsTri-COP year: Uniting for a thriving planet
Three critical UN conferences addressing biodiversity, climate and desertification to be held in 2024
In an unprecedented convergence, three major environmental international conferences are occurring within a span of six weeks in 2024. This presents a unique opportunity to underscore the interconnectedness of the crises they address and their solutions.
Biodiversity loss, climate instability, and land degradation are not isolated issues; they are deeply intertwined facets of a single planetary crisis. All three COPs (Conferences of Parties) bring together global leaders, policymakers and environmental advocates to address the most pressing issues facing our planet today.
Through the natural harmonies across the three COPs, intersectionality and interlinkages will be highlighted. Because planetary crises are interconnected, COP agendas and solutions will be similarly coordinated.
- Theme: Peace with Nature
Date: 21 October - 1 November 2024
- Location: Cali, Colombia
- Official website: https://www.cop16colombia.com/es/
- COP16 will be the first Biodiversity COP since the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). During COP16, governments will review the progress made to implement the GBF, as well as the level of alignment of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs).
For more information on UNDP at Biodiversity COP16
Theme: Enhance ambition and enable action
Date: 11-22 November 2024
- Location: Baku, Azerbaijan
- Official website: https://unfccc.int/cop29
This year, the Government of Azerbaijan will host the 29th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 29), aiming to build on previous successes and paving the way for future ambition to effectively tackle the global challenge of climate change.
- For more information on UNDP at Climate COP29
Theme: Our Land. Our Future.
Date: 2-13 December 2024
- Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Official website: https://www.unccd.int/cop16
UNCCD COP16 is expected to be the largest and most inclusive meeting of UNCCD’s 197 Parties to date — a landmark event to raise global ambition and accelerate action on land restoration and drought resilience through a people-centred approach.
- For more information on UNDP at UNCCD COP16
UNDP supports countries to achieve human development on a thriving planet. Planetary crises – climate, nature, land – are grave threats to sustainable development and global stability. At the same time, the transition to a nature-positive, climate-resilient, and regenerative future is a significant development opportunity for humanity – strengthening livelihoods, equity, and development outcomes.
Biodiversity loss, climate instability and desertification are in many ways different facets of a larger crisis, and the solutions are therefore deeply interconnected. Protecting and restoring biodiversity and land enhances ecosystem resilience, which in turn supports climate regulation and the absorption of greenhouse gases.
The integration of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) is vital for meeting the 1.5°C goal outlined in the Paris Agreement, and for meeting the climate-linked goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework. By aligning NBSAPs and NDCs, we can leverage nature-based solutions to reduce emissions, protect ecosystems, forestall desertification, and ensure sustainable livelihoods to help meet the Sustainable Development Goals. An integrated approach helps us support countries to stay on track to limit global warming and halt and reverse nature loss, and accelerates the transition to a nature-positive future on a thriving planet.
A better future is possible: we can shift our global systems from nature-negative to nature-positive and climate-resilient, if we take bold and urgent action on climate and nature, aligned with the commitments of the Paris Agreement, Land Degradation Neutrality, and the Global Biodiversity Framework. Greater diversity in decision-making, with expanded inclusion of local communities and diverse stakeholders, including Indigenous Peoples, youth, women, and those most disadvantaged by green transitions, will result in more effective, durable policymaking.
What UNDP is doing:
UNDP is committed to strengthening sustainable, regenerative and nature-positive approaches as central to the achievement of the Paris Agreement goals, ensuring that actions halt and reverse biodiversity loss and restore land and degraded ecosystems, optimizing climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits. We are doing this through three strategic objectives:
Delivering integrated impact on the ground: Portfolios in key sectors (Energy, Agriculture, Forests, Water, Food and Textiles) achieve double or triple wins in terms of climate (adaptation/mitigation), biodiversity and social benefits.
Strengthening policy coherence: integrated, digitally optimized and coordinated approaches to development of NBSAPs, LDN targets and NDCs, and increasing nature-positive approaches in the third generation of NDCs.
Unleashing ‘twin win’ finance: Deploy innovative public and private finance mechanisms, instruments, and markets that constitute ‘twin wins’ for nature and climate, such as carbon markets, biodiversity credits and financing plans, within the umbrella of integrated national financing frameworks (INNFs) and development financing.
The above goals build on UNDP’s Climate Promise initiative and the Nature Pledge, which aim to connect global goals with action on the ground to scale-up ambition and implementation.
Climate Promise 2025 is the UN System-wide effort to support developing countries to align the third generation of NDCs to the 1.5°C goal and SDGs, strengthen quality and investability, and accelerate implementation to drive sustainable development.
The Nature Pledge upscales UNDP support to over 140 countries to deliver National Biodiversity Action Plans (NBSAPs) and implement the Global Biodiversity Framework aligned to the SDGs to trigger nature positive action through three systemic shifts – value, economic & finance, and policy & practice shifts - to halt and reverse nature loss and restore degraded land and ecosystems, for sustainable development on a thriving planet.
