(Seychelles News Agency) - This week, the Seychelles' delegation at the 16th Conference of Parties under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16) in Cali, Colombia, will mainly examine the commitments made at the previous COP, when the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) was signed.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Flavien Joubert, Seychelles' Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment, said, "Unfortunately, we were unable to submit our commitments and targets and review NBSAP (National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan) in time, but we are doing our utmost to have it ready by at least the end of the year. During COP16, we intend on facilitating even more engagements for Seychelles, especially regarding finance."

The second week of the Conference is the high-level segment, which includes heads of state and ministers.

Joubert arrived at the conference during the weekend and will now participate in the high-level discussions and decide whether to sign off on the document at the end of the proceedings.

Apart from the main plenary and working groups, the minister also attended side events, the most recent one about forging coral reef resilience in which he explained the importance of Seychelles building more connections for collaboration.

"We will continue to look for partners willing to work with us on different subjects. Here we are working with the Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR), and there are also other stakeholders present. We need to explore new opportunities, to ensure progress for the country. Today, everything is more complex. We will first focus on aspects which have more economic importance for Seychelles," he said.

Joubert further shared his expectations for the second week of COP16 and his thoughts about what needs to be done.

"For this week, I think it is important that we establish how countries who have not submitted their targets will do so. Many countries still have not done this and we think that a good baseline is important. We also need a better definition regarding the financial resources that will accompany the targets and where they will come from. Are the commitments from other countries sufficient?" he asked.

Joubert also had more bilateral meetings and said, "There are several key partners that we are targeting; these are key actors that we know have the capabilities to help us with our projects, therefore we must build upon the relationship we have with them."

Joubert said that finance was a key component of Seychelles' position and it also included local Seychellois actors who noted certain concerns to him.

"There are quite a few concerns from local organisations, namely NGOs who conduct different kinds of research. This is mainly linked with access to financial resources. So, this is another point that I will be inquiring about here at the COP to clarify the situation with these organisations from Seychelles. They've said that they've been told that there is a lot of resources available, however, they feel that it is complicated to access such funding," he shared.

At the moment, Seychelles is being represented by 13 people at the COP16, a group comprising of government representatives and several non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

"We have quite an interesting delegation here in Colombia, there is quite a number of Seychellois representatives here. I am interested in seeing how each person will do their part as they each have a component they are following. We do not want to just attend a conference. We also want to go back to Seychelles with concrete solutions and outcomes for the challenges we are facing. This is important for me," he said. 

This story was produced as part of the 2024 CBD COP16 Fellowship organised by the Internews' Earth Journalism Network.