Cali

They help us judge whether the funding is dependable and whether the proposed work can proceed.

This week, the Cali Fund gives us a particularly stark case to examine.

The setting is Yerevan, Armenia, where governments are meeting for COP17, the 17th conference of the parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

The parties are the governments that have joined the treaty, whose purposes include conserving biodiversity and sharing the benefits from genetic resources fairly.

Back in Yerevan, Finance Day was earlier this week on October 26th.

It put the question of how to pay for nature protection directly before governments and financial institutions.

The Cali Fund takes its name from Cali, Colombia, where governments agreed to establish the facility in 2024.

Launched the following year, it seeks contributions from businesses benefiting commercially from nature's genetic information.

And so I think we had some sense going into it that we were going to find some regions that have been absolutely decimated.

Like Northern California has lost 95% of its bull kelp population.

Tasmania and Australia has lost 95% of its giant kelp population.

then we have kelp forests on the southern tip of south america that are basically as pristine as they were surveyed a hundred years ago or up in alaska where you've got sea otters and orcas intermingling amongst the kelp forest and they're in a really healthy condition and then you've got all the other stuff in between where there's still really vibrant beautiful ecosystems that support fisheries that support cultures that capture carbon that clean up the water but they're being degraded as time goes on and we're trying to essentially halt that as part of our process and then sort of think about how we can restore those damages that have been done.

We're having some promising conversations and hopefully between the end of this event, the upcoming climate call, then perhaps our oceans conference next year in Canada.

we'll have some of our real global kelp champions.

Though I actually would be remiss if I didn't mention California because they pledged 800 hectares of restoration by 2030 at the launch of our report just a few days ago.

So that's the world's seventh largest economy putting their hand up and saying, we support our kelp forests.

It is, every time I go back to Colombia, it just feels, even though I'm very smiley and a very happy person in general, no matter what, I'm optimistic and positive, it just sparks something different in me when I'm in Colombia.

And when I talk to Colombians too, I kind of switch my Spanish language into Colombian, especially from Cali.

You know, it's very specific.

Even though the Colombians think I speak very Mexican, you know?

But this week we're discussing Colombia's inconsistent relationship with with the Middle East.

Next week, we go over to Cali, and we talk to Charlie Jones, a British artist, and we'll be talking about not only his work, how did he end up in Cali, and a foundation that he has started and is seeking support for, in which he teaches capoeira to children in eastern Cali.

So very interesting conversation there.

How does a boy from Naneaton in Warwickshire, in the Midlands, end up in Cali teaching capoeira and, well, working as an artist.

So a great conversation ahead for you next week.

But this week's with Daniel Quezada and Sergio Guzman after the Colombia briefing with Emily Hart.

And I mean, when you come to food security, then therein comes the Galinsky family again, and their tentacles through all of this.

Perhaps, Sergio, you could give us a little bit of a background on the family's business and just the listeners.

Imagine in the old days, the Mexican cartels even thinking about picking up shop and moving to Colombia.

How do you think the Medellin cartel would have reacted? Or how about Pacho Herrera and the Gentleman of Cali? I'm sure they would have loved that, right? But the tide has turned and the Mexican cartels for sure are the dominant player when it comes to the narco game.

Sure, Colombia is producing the cocaine, but it's Mexico that's really overseeing what's going on.

On March 16th, elements of the Colombian National Police carried out the arrest of a couple of subjects who were identified as members of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the main groups responsible for the production of fentanyl in Mexico, who worked for the faction of Los Chapitos, led by the sons of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman.