By Giulia Bordin, Pax Christi International Advocacy Officer
Building on our engagement at COP16 in Cali, Colombia, last year, we continued advocating for a peace-centred approach to environmental action. From 25 to 27 February 2025, we participated in the Resumed Session of the UN Biodiversity Conference (#COP16), hosted in the FAO building in Rome, reaffirming our commitment to environmental justice.
The resumed opening session featured a powerful message from António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, who underscored the urgent need to protect biodiversity. He warned that “the foundations of life are unravelling” and called for decisive action to implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, stressing accountability, financial commitments, and multilateral cooperation.
Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s Minister of Environment, presiding over the Conference, highlighted the importance of “life-affirming systems” that respect biodiversity and promote a bio-economy ensuring social inclusion. The traditional knowledge of Global South communities must be nurtured, and exclusionary practices countered to ensure diverse perspectives remain central to discussions.
Martha Viviana Carvajalino Villegas, Colombia’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, emphasised the need for global collaboration to align agricultural and environmental strategies. With FAO support, Colombia aims to tackle shared challenges and prioritise sustainable food production to combat hunger.
She stressed that a just transition cannot take place in a system marked by injustice. She called for an end to conflict and war, placing agroalimentary systems at the centre by valuing farmers, agriculture, and cultural heritage. She urged a multilateral approach to sharing responsibilities, highlighting the need to protect biodiversity and recognise soil as a common heritage of humanity. Indigenous communities, she added, must be assured that their efforts to safeguard land are supported by public policies. “By building peace with nature, we can build peace within society.”
Astrid Schomaker, CBD Executive Secretary, highlighted biodiversity’s crucial role in food security and nutrition. She called for transforming agrifood systems to balance conservation and sustainable development, stressing their broader impact on peace and climate stability.
At COP16 in Cali, we hosted a side event, “What do we understand by Peace with Nature from the approach of active nonviolence and ecological conversion?” exploring the deep ties between peace and sustainability. In Rome, we presented the outcomes, reinforcing the need for nonviolence, sustainability, and social justice in ecological transformation.
Pax Christi International’s advocacy, grounded in Catholic Social Teaching and inspired by Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’, affirms that protecting biodiversity is a moral imperative. We advocate for policies addressing environmental injustices affecting marginalised communities, ensuring biodiversity efforts remain equitable and inclusive. We stress international cooperation, shared responsibility, and the crucial role of local and indigenous communities in conservation.
The resumed session of COP16 in Rome marked a key step in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Framework, strengthening biodiversity finance commitments, enhancing accountability, and reinforcing the role of civil society and faith-based organisations in environmental justice advocacy. State parties agreed on key measures to advance biodiversity conservation, as outlined in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. As part of these efforts, the first dedicated fund to finance biodiversity was created, and the monitoring plan to measure progress on the 23 targets for 2030 was approved in alignment with the framework’s objectives.
Moving forward, Pax Christi International will continue advocating for biodiversity protection through active nonviolence and integral ecological justice. Our participation at COP16 in Rome reaffirmed our commitment to a world where peace and environmental sustainability go hand in hand.
