With around 420 proposals put forward by almost 60 countries to be negotiated at the COP16 Biodiversity Summit taking place in Cali, Colombia, just 10 have a focus on building capacity for green skills in national workforces.
The world’s largest membership body for environment and sustainability professionals, IEMA, has written to the COP16 President Susana Muhamad and the UK Government’s Minister of State for Nature Mary Creagh, urging them to make green education, skills and training a bigger priority at negotiations.
It comes two years after the historic signing of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) at the COP15 summit in Montreal – aimed at reversing the decline of biodiversity around the world by 2030.
‘Capacity building’ was one of the key targets among the 23 agreed by countries signing the framework.
Analysis by the Carbon Brief and the Guardian shows that just 25 countries and the EU met the deadline to publish their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) ahead of COP16. This means 170 countries – including the UK – did not meet the deadline.
Ahead of negotiations in Colombia, the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) which represents almost 22,000 environment and sustainability professionals, met with UK Nature Minister Mary Creagh to advocate for the integration of green education, skills and training skills into national workforces in order to deliver NBSAPs.
IEMA chief executive Sarah Mukherjee MBE will be in Colombia for the COP16 Biodiversity Summit calling on global leaders to support IEMA’s #GreenSkillsAtCOP agenda, which continues at the COP29 Climate Change Summit that starts in Baku, Azerbaijan just 10 days after the conclusion of negotiations in Cali.
‘Getting to a healthy planet is magical thinking without appropriate education, skills and training.
‘Currently this is the critical gap in the global response to the climate and biodiversity breakdowns.
‘Target 20 in the Global Biodiversity Framework rightly recognises the need to prioritise capacity building and a crucial aspect in the delivery of each national biodiversity action plan should be ensuring that they have a workforce with the appropriate skills, knowledge and expertise in place.
‘Yet a thorough commitment to green skills has so far been conspicuous by its absence.
‘Only a handful of countries have so far submitted their national action plans to restore biodiversity. So the silver lining here, is that we still have the opportunity to influence outcomes.
‘We have a growing and broad coalition of partners that are urging global leaders to ensure there is a focus on building capacity for green education, skills, and training, to ensure every country has a workforce that can deliver on their biodiversity and climate targets.’
SARAH MUKHERJEE MBE
CEO of IEMA
Around 14,000 delegates are meeting in Cali, Colombia for COP16 – the 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity – which runs until 01 November.
68% of Brits want a National Nature Service to address skills gap for young people and restore the natural environment.
£130bn National Renewal Tax on the super-rich could insulate all draughty UK homes, fund free bus travel, green jobs and more, new report finds.
60+ climate groups call on incoming government to fund just transition for North Sea workers.
UK could do more to reap economic benefits of green growth, finds Net Zero Review.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Weekly ethical news, offers, comps and a free digital mag (quarterly) – what’s not to love?
