(THE GIST OF PIB) Cali Fund

(FEBRUARY-2025)

Recently, the ‘Cali Fund’ was launched at the resumed 16th Conference of Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Rome.

It is a new international fund has been created to help protect biodiversity.
It will collect money from private companies. These companies use genetic data from nature in their businesses.
The Cali Fund will receive money from businesses that rely on Digital Sequence Information (DSI).
DSI includes genetic data from plants, animals, and microorganisms. Industries like pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, agriculture, and biotechnology use DSI to develop products.
Under this new system, they will now have to contribute a part of their revenue to support biodiversity efforts.
The money collected will be used in several ways.
It will support biodiversity conservation projects, help developing countries implement their biodiversity action plans, and fund scientific research to improve how genetic data is stored and used.
At least 50 per cent of its resources will go to indigenous peoples and local communities, recognising their crucial role in protecting nature.
This is the first time that a global biodiversity fund under the UN will receive direct contributions from businesses.
This fund will be managed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Environment Programme.

This marks an important step in ensuring industries benefiting from biodiversity also contribute to its conservation.
It is seen as a key step towards meeting the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) goal of stopping and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030.