Exploring Rio Convention synergies and trade-offs

World Café discussions mapped risks and potentials, including a possible mega-COP for all three Rio Conventions.

On 13 June, IDOS co-organised an interactive World Café workshop at Bonn Climate Camp exploring the benefits and trade-offs of deeper Rio Convention integration.

Co-hosted with the University of Geneva, Shifting Advocacy, and the youth constitutency of the UNFCCC, YOUNGO, the session brought together civil society practitioners, researchers, and activists around three deliberative tables: knowledge types and whose expertise counts in review mechanisms; national reporting burdens and co-benefits of aligning NDCs, NBSAPs, and land degradation targets; and finance flows and thematic synergies between climate, biodiversity, and land agendas.

Rather than assuming integration is inherently positive, participants grappled with genuine tensions – could convergence unlock transformative action, or risk diluting individual agendas? Participants to the interactive workshop mapped both potentials and trade-offs, building a collective „risks vs. potentials“ output. The event highlighted that practitioners navigating these conventions need concrete ways to engage the synergies agenda critically. The workshop closed with speaking about the prospect of one mega-COP in 2032 for all three Rio Conventions, marking 40 years since Rio and potentially hosted in Africa.