During the high-level event “Towards a Resilient Future: Synergies between Climate and Nature on the Road to COP30” at the 80th UN General Assembly, Colombia presented a global initiative to align climate and biodiversity agendas and to call for a political mandate to ensure biodiversity is fully integrated into global climate action.

Ministers and partners attending the roundtable, organized by Colombia and Germany, co-chairs of the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership, heard a clear message: the climate and biodiversity crises are inseparable and must be addressed together. Colombia’s proposal highlights this urgency, recognizing that global economic and social stability depends on healthy ecosystems.

If the proposal moves forward, COP30 could establish a Special Expert Group to recommend concrete ways to mainstream biodiversity into climate decision-making. More coordination between the UNFCCC, CBD, and UNCCD would ensure coherence across the Rio Conventions, strengthening the scientific and political basis for integrated global action.

The initiative places the Amazon and its custodians at the heart of the agenda. Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant communities, and local actors are recognized not as secondary stakeholders but as key protagonists of solutions. Colombia also stressed that access to fair and sufficient financing, inlcuding with gender and generational perspectives, is essential to ensure transformative action.

The proposal further highlights the need to address fossil fuel dependence, calling for urgent and just transitions as a prerequisite for success in protecting both climate and biodiversity.

Aligning climate, biodiversity, and land agendas has the potential to unlock new synergies for implementation, mobilize resources more effectively, and deliver benefits for both people and nature. As countries move toward COP30 and COP17, this kind of integrated approach will be critical to advancing global targets in a coherent and impactful way.