To sufficiently fund biodiversity protection, we need to know how much we are currently spending on conservation—and how much more is needed. In other words, we need to calculate the biodiversity financing gap. The Nature Conservancy, the Paulson Institute, and Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability at Cornell University took a deep look at these numbers.
Following an exhaustive analysis, the authors found that global expenditures on biodiversity amount to between US$ 124 and US$ 143 billion per year. This represents a near-tripling in funding since 2012—but it’s still not nearly enough. Agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and fossil fuel subsidies that degrade nature are four times higher than spending that benefits nature.
To reverse the global decline in biodiversity by 2030, we need to be spending US$ 722-967 billion per year. That puts the global biodiversity financing gap at US$ 598-824 billion per year.
This global biodiversity conservation funding need is substantially higher than previous estimates. Why? Previous estimates have focused primarily on the funding needs to support a global protected areas network to prevent biodiversity loss. We recognize that protected areas play a key role in preventing biodiversity loss; however, without additional conservation measures, protected areas will not be sufficient to ensure the long-term sustainability of the earth’s biosphere. The authors of Financing Nature take a broad view of biodiversity conservation and consider the costs managing and using economically productive land and seascapes in a manner that also maintains biodiversity integrity and protects the valuable ecosystem services that nature provides for humanity. Also, they consider the costs of a shift in the economy towards green practices such as pollution control and urban biodiversity protection.
But as large as the global biodiversity financing gap might be, there is some hopeful news: we can close the gap for less than one percent of the global annual gross domestic product. For comparison, that’s roughly equivalent to Poland’s annual GDP or that of the US state of North Carolina. It’s less than the world spends on cigarettes in a year, or soft drinks.
The report discussed a range of mechanisms that could unlock the financing we need if implemented at the right scale. These solutions come from all across society. And now, as the international community considers the difficult question of financial resource mobilization for the future, Financing Nature proposes certain policy and financial mechanisms to close the biodiversity financing gap that may not have been considered so far by international environmental negotiators.
