The two-week COP16 biodiversity summit kicked off in Colombia on Sunday with an opening ceremony flanked by Colombian officials and representatives of indigenous peoples.

During the summit, officials aim to halt the rapid destruction of nature which has reached unprecedented extremes globally in 2024.

Running until November 1, the summit aims to negotiate the next steps in implementing the landmark 2022 Kunming-Montreal accord – likened to the Paris Agreement on climate change, but for nature – in order to address the drastic decline in biodiversity globally.

Climate change, deforestation, pollution and habitat destruction including drought have led to a 69% decline in global wildlife populations since 1970, according to nonprofit WWF.

(Reuters)