UN biodiversity conference inspires, teaches Episcopal delegates ways to support ecosystems

[Episcopal News Service] After 12 days of listening to world leaders discuss aspects of biodiversity and networking with government officials and faith-based partners at the United Nations’ biennial biodiversity conference in Santiago de Cali, Colombia, delegates representing The Episcopal Church returned home with a clearer sense of how the church should help promote ecosystems and reduce biodiversity loss.

“After our participation in this biodiversity conference, we feel more challenged than ever in our role of promoting sustainable management for the planet,” Colombia Bishop Elías García Cárdenas told Episcopal News Service in a written statement.

García Cárdenas was one of three Episcopalians who participated in the 16th U.N. Conference of the Parties on the Convention on Biological Diversity – often shortened to COP16 – Oct. 21 to Nov. 1. He, along with Kansas Bishop Cathleen Bascom and the Rev. Luis López Chicaiza, a priest at Parroquia Episcopal Trinity Church Cali, was part of a delegation representing then-Presiding Bishop Michael Curry at COP16. This was the last delegation to represent Curry at a U.N. event before his nine-year-term ended on Nov. 1.

Four Episcopal Church staff members were also in Santiago de Cali for the conference: Lynnaia Main, the church’s representative to the United Nations; the Rev. Melanie Mullen, the church’s director of reconciliation, justice and creation care; Phoebe Chatfield, the church’s program associate for creation care and justice; and the Rev. Glenda McQueen, the church’s partnership officer for Latin America and the Caribbean.

“As we watch climate disasters, hunger, and wars intensify …. Relationships being forged between scientists, activists, heads of state, religious leaders, Indigenous people … all bring us hope,” Bascom told ENS in a written statement.

The Episcopal Church has held special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council at the United Nations since 2014. 

During COP16, delegates attended plenary meetings and educational events. They also joined the “Faith Hub,” a special space set up by the international Faiths for Biodiversity Coalition for faith-based organizations to meet, pray together and network. Bascom, who for a long time has been involved with prairie restoration in Kansas, said she spent a day with world leaders exploring the “necessity and complexity” of transforming agrifood systems.

“We need to integrate our increased biodiversity (reforestation, prairie, wetland and coastland restoration) with regenerative agricultural practices, and to undergird this by building communities of prayer and best practices,” she said.

Bascom was part of The Episcopal Church’s climate change COP delegation in 2021 and 2023. The annual climate change COP, which begins today in Baku, Azerbaijan, is different from the biodiversity conference. The latter focuses on protecting and preserving all life on Earth, including animals, plants and microorganisms. The climate change conference, on the other hand, focuses on limiting the rise of Earth’s surface temperature to reduce the frequency of extreme weather events, including hurricanes, wildfires, severe rain events, increased flooding and heatwaves. 

About 14,000 diplomats and delegates from 180 countries representing faith-based organizations, advocacy groups, businesses, Indigenous organizations and academic institutions attended COP16, making it the largest biodiversity conference. This year’s conference theme was “Peace with Nature,” recognizing that humans must transform their relationship with nature by improving production and consumption practices to promote ecosystems rather than destroy them.

“For Colombia, this event organized by the U.N. had great achievements … we believe that it managed to mobilize an important flow of visitors from all over the world, making our country and particularly the city of Cali … visible,” García Cárdenas. 

COP16 was an opportunity for the Diocese of Colombia to work with delegates from The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion and connect local religious leadership with international faith-based coalitions, as well as U.N. and government officials.

Climate change is among several factors leading to the rapid decline of Earth’s biodiversity. Overfishing, poaching and habitat loss when land is taken for agriculture are other factors, which have left more than 1 million animals on the brink of extinction. Human population growth is a central factor because of the increased need for infrastructure and converting natural habitats for agriculture, which have significantly reduced space for wildlife to thrive.

In 2022, 196 countries signed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP15 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which lists 23 targets to be met by 2030 to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.

One of the targets, called the 30×30 target, is to ensure that 30% of land and water is conserved by 2030. At The Episcopal Church’s 81st General Convention in June in Louisville, Kentucky, the House of Bishops and House of Deputies passed D029, “Commit to the 30×30 Initiative for Biodiversity,” which directs all Episcopal institutions to adopt, support and promote the 30×30 target.

D029 was one of several resolutions related to biodiversity passed by General Convention and Executive Council that enabled the creation of an Episcopal delegation at COP16. Another resolution that passed at the 81st General Convention, B002, “Build Eco-Region Creation Networks for Crucial Impact,” which was proposed by Bascom, calls on The Episcopal Church to create a pilot program of three “Eco-Region Creation Networks” that would link Episcopalians across dioceses and institutions as they implement nature-based mitigation strategies to climate change. The networks would focus on transforming food systems, restoring and preserving native biodiversity, monitoring water quality and conserving water supply. In September, Executive Council’s Joint Budget Committee recommended spending $90,000 to establish the networks. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe affirmed the investment as then-presiding bishop-elect.

Ahead of this year’s COP16 conference, countries had to submit plans to demonstrate how they intend to meet the 23 targets. Most failed to meet the deadline, and the conference was suspended after hours of negotiations. Despite the setbacks, Main said the conference’s focus on protecting biodiversity relates to Episcopalians’ call to “care for the Earth and all its creatures” and care “for the most vulnerable people and communities whose livelihoods are threatened by biodiversity loss.”

“I think a lot of us feel this is a critical space where the church needs to be present, both to be a prophetical moral witness and also to showcase what we are doing, and develop partnerships going forward,” Main told ENS.

The next U.N. biodiversity conference, COP17, will take place in 2026 in Armenia.

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.