The battle to protect global biodiversity is the greatest fight of all, a struggle for life itself, said Colombian President Gustavo Petro kicking off the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s COP16 in Cali, yesterday. (EFE)
Nearly 200 countries will be debating how they can save nature from the current rapid rate of destruction, reports Reuters. Experts say the summit “will be decisive for the fate of the world’s rapidly declining wildlife populations,” reports the Guardian.
It is the first biodiversity-focused meeting since 2022, when governments struck a historic deal to halt the destruction of ecosystems. Scientists, Indigenous communities, business representatives and environment ministers will discuss progress towards the targets and negotiate how they will be monitored, reports the Guardian.
Already more than 80% of countries have failed to submit plans to meet a UN agreement to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems, reported the Guardian last week. Some countries are expected to use the conference to unveil plans for creating or expanding protected areas and for how they’ll spend biodiversity funding, reports the Associated Press.
Yesterday UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged "significant investment" in the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) created last year, as well as "commitments to mobilize other sources of public and private finance." (AFP)
Biodiversity and Armed Groups
The Estado Mayor Central, a dissident FARC group, warned international delegates not to attend the summit, but later deleted the post from social media. Last week they launched attacks in El Plateado, near Cali, injuring 17 people and shutting down highways.
Colombia’s armed groups complicate the goals of COP16, International Crisis Group analyst Bram Ebus, told the Financial Times. “While Colombia’s slogan for COP16 is ‘peace with nature’, it is painful that its major natural asset, the Amazon, is increasingly under the control of armed groups. Last week International Crisis Group reported that criminal groups in the Amazon are committing environmental crimes to pressure the government. (See Friday’s briefs.)
EMC is currently the dominant group in most of Colombia’s Amazon regions— roughly 40% of the country. “They have long profited from illegal economies in those regions,” reports Pirate Wire Services, and “have even, according to ICC, managed to gain access to funds from the International Rainforest Fund, a financial program funded by European and North American countries meant to protect the very forests EMC now controls.”
The situation is an opportunity to expand COP16’s agenda, argues James Bosworth in World Politics Review. “Within Colombia and Brazil, and across the international community, there are interest groups that care deeply about security challenges but rarely engage on environmental issues. With billions of dollars in international funding and investment now going to the defense industry, some of it could be directed toward the issues that are among this conference’s priorities.”
Cuba blackouts
Cuba suffered four total power outages within 48 hours, this weekend, “underscoring the precarious state of the country's infrastructure,” reports Reuters. Officials said power has been restored in about half the capital, and would be reinstated in most of the country by tonight. (AFP)
Yesterday, in a Havana neighborhood, people went into the streets banging pots and pans in protest. The protesters, who say they have no water either, blocked the street with garbage, reports the Associated Press.
Hurricane Oscar, which hit the island’s east yesterday night, will further complicate efforts to salvage the islands archaic power plants.
Though the country has suffered rolling blackouts for years, particularly in the countryside, outages on Friday and Saturday were total. Cubans compare the situation to that of the “Special Period,” when the Soviet Union’s collapse in the 1990s plunged the country into economic crisis, reports the New York Times.
Blackouts have been worsening, a situation Cuba’s government blames on deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand, reports Reuters. “Fuel deliveries to the island have dropped off significantly this year, as Venezuela, Russia and Mexico, once leading suppliers, have reduced their exports to Cuba.”
Cuba’s government doesn’t have enough money to buy fuel on the global markets for its five main thermoelectric power plants, which has had knock on effects as water pumps and pipes fail, garbage collection is cut, and food prices soar. (Guardian)
Regional Relations
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva canceled his trip to Russia for this week’s BRICS summit after a domestic accident caused a minor brain hemorrhage yesterday. Officials said he would participate via videoconference.(Associated Press, BBC, Reuters)
“The United States benefits immensely from a safe and prosperous Mexico,” and “also faces significant risks from a less stable, less safe, and slower-growing neighbor, as Mexico’s challenges inevitably reverberate across the border,” writes Shannon K O’Neil in Foreign Affairs. “Washington can mitigate the worst of these risks for itself and for Mexico by cooperating with Sheinbaum’s government when possible.”
Haiti
Haitian security forces are battling to protect one of the last Port-au-Prince neighborhoods that isn’t controlled by gangs. “Solino has been under attack since Thursday, with residents calling radio stations pleading for help as they fled their homes,” reports the Associated Press.
Mexico
Mexican Catholic priest Marcelo Pérez was killed on Sunday in Chiapas state, after officiating mass. He had spent almost two decades fighting for the rights of the Tzotzil indigenous group, of which he was a member, and was a vocal critic of organized criminal groups.. (Reuters, BBC, Al Jazeera, Associated Press)
Guatemala
Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora was released to house arrest, after more than 810 days in jail in a money laundering case that was plagued with irregularities and critics say was political revenge for his newspaper’s corruption investigations. (New York Times, Reuters)
El Salvador
A Salvadoran court acquitted a group of environmental activists accused of a civil war era killing, a case critics say was politically motivated. The judges acquitted them "due to the statute of limitations" and ordered their immediate release, reports AFP. (See Oct. 10’s post.)
Colombia
“Coca crops and cocaine production in Colombia increased during 2023, as the government has stopped forced eradication efforts and concentrated on seizures to fight drug trafficking,” reports InSight Crime.
Colombia’s Petro administration “has made progress in transforming significant sectors of the economy by increasing government control and reducing private-sector participation. Its peace and security policies seem to have backfired and have so far resulted in the expansion of criminal organizations,” according to an analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Venezuela
Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman freed in a Venezuelan prisoner exchange with the United States last year, will join ally Nicolás Maduro’s government as the industry minister. (Al Jazeera)
Mexico
Mexican federal prosecutors said Sinaloa state police, prosecutors and forensic examiners all conspired to cover up the killing of an opponent of the ruling Morena party state governor. The bombshell statement backs up allegations made by cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, reports the Associated Press.
Mexico’s Sheinbaum administration pitches itself as the continuation of AMLO’s Fourth Transformation, and has bent itself into strange shapes trying to define “Mexican Humanism,” according to the Mexico Political Economist.
Migration
A group of about 2,000 migrants left Mexico’s southern border Sunday hoping to reach the country’s northern border ahead of the U.S. elections, reports the Associated Press.
Brazil
“Brazil has seen a surge in the number of foreign nationals and women rescued from forced labor conditions, a form of human trafficking also known as modern slavery,” reports InSight Crime.
Victims of Brazil’s worst environmental disaster, the 2015 rupture of an iron tailings dam rupture, were taking their case for compensation to a UK court on today, “almost nine years after tons of toxic mining waste poured into a major waterway, killing 19 people and devastating local communities,” reports the Associated Press.
Peru
A teacher in Lima was gunned down in front of his students, the latest and most shocking example of a surge in gang violence in Peru, reports the Guardian.
“Peru's massive Chancay port, which authorities hope will become a major shipping hub for South America-Asia trade, will ship two container ships a week beginning late next month,” reports Reuters.
Regional
Countries such as Uruguay, Chile, Costa Rica and Brazil may have an underrated opportunity to participate in U.S. nearshoring efforts, argue Felipe Larraín B. and Carmen Cifuentes V. in Americas Quarterly.
Argentina
Argentine President Javier Milei has fulfilled his promise of deep spending cuts: in ten months “spending has been reduced by 30% year-over-year in real terms (adjusted for inflation),” reports El País.
Milei said in a television interview aired last night that he would like to “put the last nail in kirchnerism’s coffin,” with former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner inside. (Ámbito)