Highlights and images for 16 February 2024

On Friday, the Committee of the Whole (CoW) met to continue considering its pending agenda items before bringing its recommendations to the Conference of the Parties (COP) for adoption.

Want to dig deeper into today's talks? Read the full Earth Negotiations Bulletin daily report.

In the morning, delegates listened to an analysis of CMS parties’ national reports. Many parties reported progress in implementing the Convention since COP13, but the analysis highlighted the persistent need to work against drivers of biodiversity loss such as harmful subsidies. They highlighted a lack of financial resources and technical capacity as key barriers to their effective implementation of the Convention.

The credentials committee also reported that, due to arrears or problems with credentials, only 67 of the 111 parties present at COP14 are eligible to vote, out of 133 CMS parties in total.

Parties continued to approve conference room papers (CRPs) about governance and technical issues, species-related issues, and taxonomy. They also reviewed proposals for new Concerted Actions relating to listed species, including:

• the Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx);
• the Pallas Cat, or Manul (Felis manul);
• the Straw-Coloured Fruit Bat (Eidolon helvum); and
• the Franciscana Dolphin (Pontoporia blainvillei).

Elsewhere in the venue, working groups and informal meetings continued to finalize deliberations on pending CRPs.

The afternoon was taken up by cultural excursions sponsored by the Government of Uzbekistan. Delegates were given the chance to explore the area around Samarkand, including its world-renowned bazaar. Others took part in a tree-planting ceremony next to the venue.

The CoW reconvened in the early evening to review additional CRPs on: freshwater fish, including the European Eel (Anguilla anguilla); preventing poisoning; ecotourism; and renewable energy, among others.

The CRPs on the New Strategic Plan for Migratory Species and on the impact of plastic pollution on migratory species generated debate over the inclusion of references to “developing countries” in the documents. Delegates disagreed on whether the inclusion of this text would set an unproductive precedent and were unable to find a compromise during the session. A debate over references to community-wildlife interactions being sometimes “harmful” ended more productively, with the reference withdrawn. 

The CoW will reconvene on Saturday morning to consider the remaining CRPs, with participants encouraged to “be early, not just on time,” to conclude its work ahead of the COP plenary.