A man sprays water on a sculpture by Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong at the COP16 conference venue in Yumbo, Colombia, on Oct. 17JOAQUIN SARMIENTO/AFP/Getty Images
If a delegation of giants were to attend this year’s United Nations Biodiversity Conference, they would be delighted to find what appears to be a colourful Jenga game designed just for them.
At more than six metres tall and filled with dioramas of global ecosystems, the seemingly precarious art installation was created by Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong for the COP16 conference being held in Cali, Colombia.
Stacked 33 blocks high, this tower is designed to look like it’s teetering on the edge of collapse – much like the state of global biodiversity, Mr. Von Wong said.
“Right now, we’re losing so much of our biodiversity that we depend on for clean water, clean air and a stable climate, and if we continue pulling blocks out and destroying them, then we run the chance of actually hitting a tipping point of no return,” he said.
The last UN Biodiversity Conference was held in Montreal in 2022, when nearly 200 countries, including Canada, adopted a framework to steer action on biodiversity loss through to 2030. At the same time, they committed to submitting their plans for achieving this framework by the time COP16 rolled around. However, according to a joint analysis by Carbon Brief and the Guardian, more than 80 per cent of them failed to do so. Canada is one of only 25 countries who submitted an updated biodiversity pledge in time for this year’s conference.
Atop the visual metaphor sits three sculptures of children, designed by local artist Raizha Guzmán, who each hold a different item to symbolize paying attention, speaking up and caring for nature – actions Mr. Von Wong said he hopes the art will inspire. Beside the tower, sit a handful of blocks that appear to have been removed from the tower and represent contributors to biodiversity loss, such as plastic pollution, deforestation or monocultures.
The installation took about six months to create and was a team effort with help from locals in Cali, Mr. Von Wong said. Among them were more than 200 students from nearby schools who created animal sculptures to populate the ecosystems seen within the blocks.
“Just like this art project, which took many people with many different skills to pull off, it’s the same metaphor for how we’re going to solve a problem like the biodiversity crisis we now face,” Mr. Von Wong said.
The idea for the installation was born out of a conversation Mr. Von Wong had with his friend Kevin Whilden, co-founder of the non-profit SeaTrees. Together, he said their idea was to create a symbol for biodiversity that “captured the deep interconnection and interdependence that we have with nature in a simple, universal and concise way.”
The unveiling of the art coincides with the launch of SeaTrees’ Biodiversity Blocks, set to go on sale during COP16. Mr. Whilden said the blocks, which are similar to carbon credits and will cost $3 each, are the first of their kind to support marine biodiversity – something that has been largely left out of conservation and carbon market funding.
Despite ocean habitats’ ability to sequester CO2 at rates up to four times higher than terrestrial forests, according to a report by the United Nations, Mr. Whilden said a combination of barriers has led to marine ecosystems being neglected by mechanisms such as the carbon market.
“It’s really hard to work in the ocean. It’s hard to do the science, it’s hard to do projects, it’s much more expensive, and all those things together make it much harder to actually get things done,” he said.
Three sculptures of children designed by artist Raizha Guzman each hold a different item to symbolize paying attention, speaking up and caring for nature.JOAQUIN SARMIENTO/AFP/Getty Images
The conference began on Oct. 21 and ends on Nov. 1. Every night between 5 and 7 p.m., the Jenga tower within the venue’s Blue Zone will be lit up with the signature colours of COP16, and for several of those nights Mr. Von Wong will be present to have conversations with those who visit it.
“My hope is that everybody, every day, as they walk by the installation, are reminded of the urgency of immediate action, and of where we are at this moment in time, which is a very precarious space,” he said.
At the conclusion of COP16, Mr. Von Wong said the art will be moved to its permanent home in Cali’s botanical gardens, where it can be enjoyed by the community members who brought it to life.
“At the end of the day, this monument wasn’t meant to be a symbol of despair, but rather one of hope, because nature can heal itself. It can regenerate itself. It just needs to be given a chance,” he said.
Special to The Globe and Mail