University of Connecticut faculty in the Plant Science and Landscape Architecture department traveled to Cali, Colombia to attend the 16th U.N. Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16) last month. Professor Sohyun Park, Ph.D., and her advisee, graduate student Zahra Ali, attended the conference alongside global leaders, reflecting on how landscape architecture and design can positively impact biodiversity efforts.
The conference was divided into two areas, the “blue” and “green” zones, according to the Business for Nature website. The blue zone restricts entry to official delegations from member countries and accredited observers, while the green zone is open to the public. According to Park, she and Ali participated in green zone events, though they also attended the highly secure blue zone events as observers.
Park had the opportunity to present her research on solutions to biodiversity loss at a couple of green zone events, including the Biopolis Global Symposium. Park also spoke on a panel called “Every Building, Campus and Community Project is an Opportunity to Protect Biodiversity,” discussing ways to ensure that future design projects protect biodiversity.
“There are some local architects and landscape architects who joined on the panel,” Park said. “We shared a really brief presentation of our work, and then spent more time to discuss how we can make sure any design/construction projects could be an opportunity to enhance and protect biodiversity.”
According to Park, two of the panelists were working on local projects, and most of the audience members were local students studying engineering, planning and design. The panel took place at Universidad ECCI, a local university that served as a meeting space for the green zone events.
“We had four people [on the panel],” Park explained. “One of them was the program director for the Sustainable SITES Initiative [at the U.S. Green Building Council], and the other two were local…We actually utilized one of the classrooms in [Universidad ECCI], and most of the audience were student engineers and planners, and designers and design practitioners from local areas. Some of the presentations were done in Spanish…but there was a translator, and he was able to translate what I said into Spanish.”
Ali said it was nice to see substantial student participation at the panel and other green zone events.
“What I noticed at both the green zone events were specific cultural hubs or universities that were involved, to not only bring in the broader public and community within Cali and Colombia, but it also then gave access to students who maybe didn’t necessarily have the opportunity to go away from their university,” Ali said. “They could go from class to come to a session and then go back to class.”
Other green zone events included workshops, exhibitions of environmental projects and artistic presentations, according to the COP16 website. The events aim to “meet diverse voices that show the momentum, action and ambition from indigenous peoples to urban networks,” the website states.
According to Park, one of the main takeaways from the conference focused on the need for Indigenous and Tribal communities to be heard. Ali added that there is a need for Indigenous and local communities to have more decision-making power.
“We could see that there was a lot of discussion about engaging Indigenous communities and local communities and traditional knowledge, but when it came to giving them decision-making power, there was clearly a lack of that,” Ali said. “So, our thoughts are, how do you step beyond that sort of performative engagement…to actually decentralizing and devolving the power away from…corporations and governments?”
Another key takeaway Park mentioned was working to quantify biodiversity with consistent metrics.
“People [were] speaking about…the metrics and system to quantify biodiversity, which is very challenging compared to other socioeconomic outcomes because it’s not tangible,” Park explained. “Sometimes, maybe you can define what biodiversity means in your [own] context, so it could mean like a number of species…it could be behavior diversity of certain species. So, how do you measure the outcomes and what kind of standardized form of metric system can we utilize…to compare different sites with different situations for biodiversity?”
Ali emphasized the importance of having students and faculty attend COP16 and similar conferences.
“I think it’s important that we keep continuing to engage in these conferences,” Ali said. “Yes, we are within academia, and we think that we read a lot from different parts of the world, and we are globally engaged, but when you actually come into contact with people from these communities and you’re listening to their ideas…it just broadens your realm of what’s possible.”
According to Park and Ali, the opportunity to present their research and attend the conference was supported and funded by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), along with the UConn Department of Global Affairs, the Office of Sustainability and the Institute of the Environment. Park also said that this year marks the first time UConn has been represented at a CBD conference.
According to a Nov. 27 press release on the U.N. CBD website, delegations from member countries will resume COP16 in Rome, Italy in February 2025. The three-day extension is necessary since governments “failed to reach a consensus on key issues,” which resulted in suspension, according to a Guardian article.
Despite the suspension, the release states that delegates achieved numerous agreements, including the establishment of a global “Cali Fund” that would benefit developing countries, as well as recognition of contributions to the field by people of African descent. Other agreements and key topics discussed can be found in the release.