on October 25, 2024
Dear Colleagues,
We start with a take from IHP editorial member Cesar Vargas on the ongoing COP16 in his country, Colombia.
As the world turns its attention to Colombia these two weeks (21 Oct-1 Nov) for what has been called “the biggest U.N. biodiversity conference in history“, the ‘16th meeting of the Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’ (better known as COP16 ), the summit in Cali aims to address vital issues, with among them: funding for biodiversity conservation, biopiracy, and making sure Afro-descendant communities are included in decision-making (at last). While we focus on biodiversity, however, I can not help but feel that we are still working too much in silos. Pandemic preparedness largely remains separate from the COP discussions on climate and biodiversity, for example. While the upcoming COP29 next month in Azerbaijan, which will focus on carbon reduction and adaptation, has some health related events, pandemic preparedness...