Biodiversity Pulse

Carbon crediting standard Verra officially unveiled its long-awaited nature framework for the voluntary biodiversity credit market. The announcement came during the ongoing COP16 UN biodiversity summit in Cali, marking a significant step that Verra hopes will spark interest among carbon developers and early players in the fledgling nature market. The framework allows projects to implement restoration and conservation activities, and lists a set of eligible criteria and requirements for social and environmental safeguards, including additionality. Projects will not be able to submit for registration until Apr. 1, 2025. Even then, only Verra’s existing pilots will be able to be listed and generate credits, Sinclair V., who led the framework design, told our reporters Giada Ferraglioni and Sergio Colombo. Read the full story and subscribe: https://lnkd.in/dSiBTWu5

It's Ocean Day at #COP16 in Cali. UN negotiations in Colombia have led to "excellent progress" towards creating a new process for identifying key marine biodiversity areas, in a move that observers consider essential for achieving some of the most critical global ocean targets. A week in, the biodiversity summit has generated significant optimism among observers about the possibility of parties reaching an agreement on the criteria for identifying the Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs), one of the two main marine-related issues currently under negotiation. "The progress we have achieved so far in this first week here has been more than in the past eight years of negotiations," Pauli Merriman, head of ocean policy at WWF, told our reporter Giada Ferraglioni. Alongside EBSAs, another key item on the negotiators' agenda is to address the existing gaps in the work programme on marine and coastal biodiversity. The programme will be considered for adoption in Cali, but unlike the discussions about EBSAs, talks appear to be moving slowly. According to Marine Lecerf, head of international policy at Paris-based Ocean & Climate Platform, it is essential – and still possible – that the text is adopted at COP16. Otherwise, the implementation of the GBF will be delayed by two years. Read and subscribe:  https://lnkd.in/deUKMVUq

Three international organisations released a set of 21 high-level principles for biodiversity credits on Wednesday in a move designed to encourage market alignment. The guidelines were released by the Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA), the World Economic Forum, and the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits at #COP16 in Cali, Colombia. They apply to both regulatory and voluntary biodiversity credits, addressing matters such as ensuring robust outcomes, demand integrity, and protecting Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ rights, writes Sergio Colombo and Giada Ferraglioni. However, the three organisations did not go into detail on the highly debated issue of offsetting. The principles built on the draft high-level governance and integrity principles for voluntary biodiversity credits that were launched by WEF in 2022. Read and subscribe for free to read Biodiversity Pulse's coverage live from reporters in Cali, which includes the below picture from Stian Reklev: https://lnkd.in/eMNgq7wH Other biodiversity credit stories published during the conference, available on the website, include: 🌲 Policy group sets out next steps for ‘compelling’ biodiversity credit markets 🌳 Less than $1 mln of biodiversity credits purchased, BloombergNEF says 🌴 Biodiversity credits could be core part of corporate nature strategies, WEF says 🌳 Mexican state announces “comprehensive” nature credits strategy 🌲 BCA to launch digital framework for improving biodiversity credit markets transparency

Delegates from nearly 200 nations have begun two weeks of talks on how to implement the 2022 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), with questions around how to raise more funds to reverse nature loss quickly taking centre stage. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the official opening ceremony on Sunday called on countries to make significant investments in nature to make sure the world meets the GBF funding goal of the Global North raising $20 billion by 2025. COP President and Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad continued in the same vein when briefing journalists at the COP16 venue in Cali on Monday morning. Biodiversity Pulse has four reporters on the ground this week: Stian Reklev, Sergio Colombo, Giada Ferraglioni, and Alejandra Padín-Dujon. Don't hesitate to get in touch with them. Read and subscribe to our newsletter for free to get the latest on COP16: https://lnkd.in/exCQVn7P Latest stories on the conference, available now on our website: INTERVIEW – Integrated nature and climate finance must look beyond carbon storage, says An Lambrechts of Greenpeace Bloomberg and SkyTruth expand nature conservation tracker to cover land Nature Tech Collective announces taxonomy Mining threats to ecosystems are growing, says report co-authored by Earth Insight Biodiversity Credit Alliance to launch digital framework for improving biodiversity credit markets transparency Colombia eyes regulated carbon and biodiversity markets to meet nature financing targets under updated NBSAP

Fauna & Flora is considering supporting biodiversity credit initiatives in countries across the world, following an ongoing 500-hectare pilot in South Africa, Carbon Pulse has learned. The UK-based organisation is exploring supporting biodiversity credits in sites across several continents, said Julieth Serrano. “We have an evolving portfolio of pilot projects. We are scoping for projects in Asia, Central America, and Africa. They are at different stages,” she said. The initiatives of varying sizes span marine and terrestrial sites, Serrano told Thomas Cox. “We are looking to pilot in different areas to understand how the methodologies behave in different ecosystems, and also how they enable local leadership.” Read and subscribe for free: https://lnkd.in/gMncxpt7 Photo credit: Juan Pablo Moreiras 

Scaling the voluntary biodiversity credit market will be among the core topics of discussion at the upcoming COP16 in Colombia, as standards and early movers see the summit as an opportunity to unlock corporate demand. Despite increasing interest, demand has struggled to pick up so far, in part due to a lack of trust in the space as well as clarity around metrics and corporate claims. That’s why, according to Manesh Lacoul, global coordinator at the UN-backed Biodiversity Credit Alliance, ensuring that biodiversity credits generate positive outcomes should be paramount at the summit. “There is much work needed to raise awareness on biodiversity credits, including on the principles of integrity, inclusion, equity, and innovation, and COP16 will provide this opportunity,” Lacoul told our reporters Giada Ferraglioni and Sergio Colombo. The Cali talks represent an opportunity for BCA also as the summit is set to be one of the first biodiversity COPs in terms of business participation, as pointed out by Alessandro Valentini, innovative finance for nature lead at World Economic Forum. “There will be a lot of space for companies to engage in discussions on biodiversity credits, and we will work with them to build their understanding of the market,” he said. Read the full story for exclusive comments from Alex Saer of Cercarbono and Clara Morales-Rozo. PhD of BioCarbon Standard, and subscribe: https://lnkd.in/dtGyUYip

An initiative to generate biodiversity credits across more than 300,000 hectares in Uganda and Zambia has been speaking with authorities about creating enabling policy, Carbon Pulse has learned. The Biocredit Investment Operations (BIO) programme is halfway through its three-year scheme, supported by the UK government’s environmental department, to fund nature restoration. It is seeking to launch larger pilots in other countries. One pilot in northeastern Zambia is looking to generate biodiversity credits initially from about 45,000 ha in a core area, before expanding up to approximately 300,000 ha, said Simon Morgan, chief biodiversity officer and co-founder of ValueNature. The several connected protected areas are comprised of wetlands, lakes, grasslands, and woodlands. Once famed for its large herds, poaching pressures have led to significant wildlife declines, according to the BIO annual report. The two initiatives are trialling different biodiversity credit methodologies to avoid putting all their eggs in one basket, Paul Steele of International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) told Thomas Cox. The Zambian pilot is in discussions with CreditNature about using its methodology, in collaboration with biometrio.earth, while the Ugandan initiative is applying Plan Vivo Foundation's framework with engagement from Pivotal Future. Read and subscribe for free: https://lnkd.in/epdjszGa

Delegates from nearly 200 countries will gather in Colombia at the end of this month for the COP16 biodiversity summit, in what observers call a "temperature check" for the world's pledges on nature, amid political divisions on finance mobilisation threatening to hamper the implementation of the landmark Global Biodiversity Framework. Countries will be tasked with adopting a number of decisions that are critical to putting the 2022 agreement into action, as well as showing progress on their commitments on nature through updated National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). "This COP is a temperature check for global ambitions on biodiversity,” Linda Krueger, director of biodiversity and infrastructure policy at The Nature Conservancy, told our reporters Giada Ferraglioni and Sergio Colombo. Talks will focus on three priorities outlined by the Colombian presidency – defining financial mechanisms to mobilise resources, finalising and adopting a monitoring and reporting framework for the implementation of the GBF, and accelerating progress on access and benefit-sharing while actively involving Indigenous Peoples. “The difference between this COP and the previous one is that Montreal was negotiating a whole of society framework. Now we're really in implementation mode,” said Jessica Smith, nature lead at the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). “Now the key question is: how can finance support countries now to take action?” Read the story for exclusive comments from Crystal Davis of World Resources Institute and Leo Murphy of Climate Asset Management, and subscribe: https://lnkd.in/dHHX-5q7

Iceland-based International Carbon Registry (ICR) is about to launch consultations for its biodiversity credit framework, planning to onboard 10 pilot projects, the initiative's chief scientist told Carbon Pulse. Consultations will begin in a couple of weeks and remain open to public comments for one month, ICR's Rannveig Anna Guicharnaud PhD told our reporter Giada Ferraglioni during Climate Week NYC. During that period, project developers could also apply to participate in the two-year pilot initiative. Eligible activities include both restoration and conservation, and can address terrestrial, freshwater, marine, or coastal urban ecosystems. The company, which uses blockchain technology to operate an electronic platform for climate projects, said biodiversity credits will be issued publicly through its registry. "We will not issue credits unless they have been verified, and the first transaction could happen next year," Guicharnaud said. Read and subscribe: https://lnkd.in/dFqUXhDC

A response to rewild orphaned elephants in Zimbabwe has evolved into an effort to establish large-scale conservation areas generating biodiversity credits. Wild is Life was founded in by Jos Danckwerts' mother in 1998, when the country was facing significant political, economic, and social challenges that contributed to an increase in poaching. “Elephants were being poached, and often if it was an elephant cow, there would be a baby left behind, and no one would know what to do with them,” Danckwerts told Thomas Cox. “In 2014, after many years of negotiating with the government, we made an agreement to have an elephant rescue, rehabilitation, and release programme.” The heart of the operation is the Panda Masuie forest, a former wildlife hunting area turned into a leased animal refuge. Wild is Life is already preparing to generate credits from Panda Masuie, which spans around 34,000 hectares, said Danckwerts. It is planning to more than double the area from which it will generate biodiversity credits up to 84,000 ha, using Plan Vivo Foundation's methodology. Read and subscribe for free: https://lnkd.in/exj4QQF5