For the primary time, MIT sent an organized effort to the Global Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, held this 12 months in Cali, Colombia, from October 21 to November 1.
The 10 delegates to COP16 included faculty, researchers, and students from the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI), the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), and the Department of Urban Studies Planning (DUSP), the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), and the Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy.
In recent years, MIT faculty have sporadically participated within the discussions. This organized engagement, led by ESI, is important since it brought together representatives from many groups working on biodiversity across the Institute. presented the breadth of MIT research in greater than 15 events, including panels, roundtables, and keynote presentations within the blue and green zones of the conference (with the blue zone representing the first location of official negotiations and discussions and the green zone representing public events) . ); and created an experiential learning opportunity for college kids who followed specific themes within the negotiations and through side events.
The conference also brought together participants from governments, non-governmental organizations, businesses, other academic institutions and practitioners concerned with halting global biodiversity loss and promoting biodiversity loss 23 goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), a world agreement adopted in 2022 to guide global efforts to guard and restore biodiversity by 2030.
MIT's commitment was particularly pronounced when it got here to goals related to constructing coalitions of subnational governments (Goals 11, 12, 14); Technology and AI to guard biodiversity (Goals 20 and 21); Creating fair markets (Goals 3, 11 and 19); and the creation of an motion plan for Afro-Colombian communities (Goals 3, 10 and 22).
Building coalitions of subnational governments
ESI's Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) program was capable of support two separate coalitions of Latin American cities, namely the Coalition of Cities Against Illicit Economy within the Chocó Biogeographic Region and the Coalition of Colombian Amazon Cities, which have successfully signed declarations to advance specific goals the KMGBF (goals 11, 12, 14 mentioned above).
This was achieved through roundtables and discussions involving team members – including Marcela Angel, research program director at MIT ESI; Angelica Mayolo, ESI Martin Luther King Fellow 2023-25; and Silvia Duque and Hannah Leung, MIT master's students in urban planning, presented a series of multi-level actions, including transnational strategies, recommendations to strengthen local and regional institutions, and community-based actions to advertise the conservation of the Chocó biogeographic corridor as an ecological corridor.
“There is an urgent have to deepen relationships between science and native governments of cities in biodiversity hotspots,” said Angel. “Given the scale and unique conditions of Amazon cities, pilot research projects provide a possibility to check the concept and create a proof of concept. These could generate catalytic information needed to scale up climate adaptation and conservation efforts in socially and ecologically sensitive contexts.”
ESI's research also provided key inputs for the creation of the Chocó Biogeographic Region Fund, a multi-donor fund launched at COP16 by a coalition of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Costa Rica. The fund goals to support biodiversity protection, ecosystem restoration, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and sustainable development efforts across the region.
Technology and AI to guard biodiversity
Data, technology and artificial intelligence are playing an increasingly vital role in how we understand biodiversity and ecosystem change all over the world. Professor Sara Beery's research group at MIT is concentrated on this interface, developing AI methods that enable species and environmental monitoring at unprecedented spatial, temporal and taxonomic scales.
During the Science Policy Forum of the International Union for Biological DiversityAt the high-level COP16 segment focused on presenting recommendations from the scientific and academic community, Beery spoke on a panel alongside María Cecilia Londoño, Humboldt Institute scientific information manager and co-chair of the Global Biodiversity Observations Network, and Josh Tewksbury , director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, amongst other things, about how these technological advances will help humanity, our Achieving biodiversity goals. The panel emphasized that AI innovations are needed, but with a give attention to a direct human-AI partnership, constructing AI capability and the necessity for an information and AI policy to make sure equitable access to those technologies and to make sure advantages from them.
As a direct results of the meeting, AI was highlighted for the primary time within the statement that Hernando Garcia, Director of the Humboldt Institute, and David Skorton, Secretary General of the Smithsonian Institute, delivered on behalf of science and academia to the Supreme Court-level segment the COP16.
This statement states: “To effectively address current and future challenges, urgent motion is required within the areas of equity, governance, valuation, infrastructure, decolonization and policy frameworks around biodiversity data and artificial intelligence.”
Beery also organized a panel on the GEOBON Pavilion within the Blue Zone on “Scaling Biodiversity Monitoring with AI,” bringing together global leaders in AI research, infrastructure development, capability and community constructing, and policy and regulation. The panel was formed and experts were chosen from the participants of the last meeting Aspen Global Change Institute Workshop on Overcoming AI Impacts on Biodiversityco-organized by Beery.
Creating fair markets
In a side event co-hosted by ESI with the CAF-Development Bank of Latin America, researchers from ESI's Natural Climate Solutions Program took part – including Marcela Angel; Angelica Mayolo; Jimena Muzio, research associate at ESI; and Martin Perez Lara, ESI research partner and director of impacts and monitoring of forest climate solutions on the US World Wide Fund for Nature – presented results of a study titled “Voluntary Carbon Markets for Social Impact: Comprehensive Assessment of the Role of Indigenous Peoples and Peoples” Local Communities (IPLC) in Carbon Forestry Projects in Colombia.” The report highlighted the structural barriers to effective participation within the IPLC and proposed a conceptual framework for assessing IPLC engagement in voluntary carbon markets before.
Communicating these insights is very important because the worldwide carbon market has been in a credibility crisis since 2023, influenced by critical assessments in scientific literature, journalism Questioning the standard of the reduction results and ongoing concerns concerning the involvement of personal actors in IPLC. Nevertheless, carbon forestry projects have increased rapidly in indigenous, Afro-Colombian and native communities, and there may be a necessity to evaluate the relationships between private actors and IPLC and suggest pathways for equal participation.
The research presentation and subsequent panel with representatives from the carbon project developers association in Colombia Asocarbono, Fondo Acción and CAF also discussed recommendations for all actors within the carbon credit value chain – including those focused on promoting equitable profit sharing and ensuring compliance , increased accountability, improved governance structures, strengthened institutionality and regulatory frameworks – crucial to create an inclusive and transparent market.
Creation of an motion plan for Afro-Colombian communities
The Afro-Interamerican Forum on Climate Change (AIFCC), a world network committed to highlighting the critical role of Afro-Colombian peoples in global climate motion, was also present at COP16.
At the Afro Summit, Mayolo presented to the Technical Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) key recommendations developed jointly by members of the AIFCC. The recommendations emphasize:
- Creating financial instruments to preserve and support land rights of Afro-Colombian descent;
- including a credit guarantee fund for countries that recognize collective land titles of Afro-collective descent and conduct research into their contributions to biodiversity conservation;
- calls for greater representation of Afro-Colombian communities in international policy forums;
- capability constructing for local governments; And
- Strategies for inclusive growth within the green economy and the energy transition.
These measures aim to advertise inclusive and sustainable development for Afro-Colombian populations.
“It was a privilege and honor to attend COP16 with a big group from MIT, bringing knowledge and informed perspectives to fifteen different events,” says MIT ESI Director John E. Fernández. “This demonstrates the worth of ESI as a strong research and meeting body at MIT. Science tells us unequivocally that climate change and biodiversity loss are the 2 biggest challenges we face as a species and planet. MIT has the capability, expertise and fervour to deal with not only the previous but in addition the latter, and ESI is committed to enabling the absolute best contributions across the Institute within the crucial years ahead.”
A more detailed overview of the conference may be found at The launch of the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative at COP16.
