Colombia was officially confirmed in December as the host of the COP16 biodiversity summit, after Turkey backed out.
The talks will follow up on a landmark deal at the last meeting in 2022 in Montreal, at which nations promised to preserve 30 percent of the planet's land and seas by 2030.
With the planet facing its biggest loss of life since the dinosaurs and climate change threatening further extinctions to come, the United Nations has warned that the stakes have never been higher.
Announcing the decision to hold the meeting in Cali at a ceremony in Bogota, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said the region embodies "the power of human cultural diversity and the power of natural biodiversity."
The Montreal summit's landmark agreement was designed to be a blueprint for global action on nature to 2030.
It also raised pledges to commit $30 billion a year for developing countries to halt human-caused extinction of threatened species.
COP16 -- scheduled from October 21 to November 1 -- will be an opportunity for the 190 signatory countries to demonstrate their commitment by presenting their national biodiversity strategies.
It is expected to attract some 13,000 people to Cali, the country's third-largest city.
Colombia is the world's second most biodiverse country after Brazil, but it is also one of the most dangerous countries for activists.
Global Witness named Colombia the country with the most murders of land and environmental activists in 2022, with 60 people killed.
Most of these murders were linked to agriculture, mining and forestry, access to water, poaching and drug trafficking.
Unlike the climate COP, the biodiversity COP -- which stands for Conference of Parties -- takes place every two years. Turkey pulled out of hosting duties citing the need to recover from earthquakes.
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