Let’s shift gears from Washington and Kyiv to Rome, where a major conference on nature loss isn’t grabbing international headlines — *but is highly consequential to the global south and the planet* for that matter. Delegates from the U.N. Biodiversity Conference, aka COP16, are meeting tomorrow in the eternal city to tie up the loose ends from the last gathering in Cali, Colombia <https://t.devex.com/dc/kyXVoDpAY__Vu56MNr4POoixSUS6VEsTDFKugZeUZKHuvc4RNAemF2jwFmgfes-AOXki2MwPZvFheX_2o9dAku2XxmNLHfqo5cWH-pYQfkqDz5WxxBAv8rbPmjBrFr5GGQtjusJQidXk-yixfjPm16beB0UZM6Z03homG3r8GmCuLyanyvi1Pccew26IqVMp6vFVwktCF2C5_6OtTJ8DTNChUyJEVtWUd6S_04XHCeY=/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGY1tFx0AP_p4YAJ6vhktE_CjDa_-9vjoUwVEeYZNL9b1QMJ7PtnxMYDKe2rUZoiTb6OC7vvKE=> . Many of the disagreements that bedevil all COP negotiations are sure to rear their head again: unfulfilled financial promises; the push from developing countries to get their wealthier counterparts to pay up; the reluctance of wealthier countries to do so; talks on the toughest topics saved to the last possible minute, etc. Still, there’s a positive vibe at this COP, writes my colleague Jesse Chase-Lubitz, who has a cheat sheet on what to expect <https://t.devex.com/dc/kyXVoDpAY__Vu56MNr4POga9-9HSPjvqqkdP9RcuOdxACFiqsb8P7rJefKkpZQEKSNS5psz1oVMHhswfSnnKdheWajmeaJFZWbr2UnooAK0nR37jFLhRU4LqDzQ2bTlQ_Mk0DfuUa_2gq6BKos-4Uqopg71j85rn0juiI2VZCgB7japL4cBSWrZ_Yc1LycRa_Bh__NOyWZNGtUd6VPWQfAlrGyPKBsUvXne570V2p78aMMSTWY-qYjDcabc79OtxrDXhLlK_c6OrKn9CzQ7dXA==/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGY1tFx0AP_p4YAJ6vhktE_CjDa_-9vjoUwVEeYZNL9b1QMJ7PtnxMYDKe2rUZoiTb6OC7vvKE=>. While the three days in Rome this week won’t have the same pomp and circumstance as Colombia, that means the discussions will be far more concentrated on the meaty stuff right away. “I think we're all feeling fairly optimistic that we'll be able to come together and set out a road map for how the post-2030 resource mobilization architecture will look and so I'm feeling pretty hopeful,” says Linda Krueger of The Nature Conservancy. *Read:* At COP16 take two, delegates aim to finalize funding for biodiversity <https://t.devex.com/dc/kyXVoDpAY__Vu56MNr4POga9-9HSPjvqqkdP9RcuOdxACFiqsb8P7rJefKkpZQEKSNS5psz1oVMHhswfSnnKdheWajmeaJFZWbr2UnooAK0nR37jFLhRU4LqDzQ2bTlQ_Mk0DfuUa_2gq6BKos-4Uqopg71j85rn0juiI2VZCgB7japL4cBSWrZ_Yc1LycRa_Bh__NOyWZNGtUd6VPWQfAlrGyPKBsUvXne570V2p78aMMSTWY-qYjDcabc79OtxGdeYayVXE07q-EkjHBa_sg==/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGY1tFx0AP_p4YAJ6vhktE_CjDa_-9vjoUwVEeYZNL9b1QMJ7PtnxMYDKe2rUZoiTb6OC7vvKE=>