The natural world has always served as an inspiration and resource to human societies and culture. Somewhere, however, the balance tipped, and nature became the object of exploitation. Today, not only are our lands and waters polluted and depleted, but the number and variety of plants and animals — the diversity of living things on Earth — is in severe decline. The intertwined biodiversity and climate crises threaten life on our planet as we know it.
The 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity is now scheduled to take place in Kunming, China, in 2021. As countries hash out the term of a “new deal for nature,” there has never been a better time for world governments to address these issues. Every solution outlined here will not work in every country. Still, leaders can identify those that are most appropriate for their countries and their economies to develop a plan that funds their commitments to protect nature. When we succeed, the payoff will come in the form of natural resilience that benefits us all: greater food, water and economic security; a more stable climate; reduced risk of pandemics, and, not least of all, in the intangible benefits nature brings to us every day. It is a small price to pay.
The key finding of this report is that governments must undertake catalytic policy reforms to unleash biodiversity funding.
The six recommended actions below will accelerate the implementation of each of the nine financing mechanisms described in the report (see Table 1 in attachment) and materially contribute to closing the biodiversity financing gap.
Recommended Action 1: Countries must take immediate policy actions to expand biodiversity financing. This report identifies nine mechanisms for resource generation and harm-prevention including prioritizing rural economic support that subsidizes farmers to provide ecosystem services, avoiding major infrastructure development impacts on critical habitats, and investing in nature-based climate solutions.
Recommended Action 2: Government and philanthropic donors should use their funds strategically to support countries to implement the financing mechanisms and to catalyze subsequent public and private sector investment. This report calls for a doubling of foreign aid for biodiversity with the incremental resources being devoted to biodiversity-rich countries and toward the implementation of these mechanisms.
Recommended Action 3: National and sub-national governments should strengthen their regulatory and financial enabling conditions, in order to significantly accelerate private actions and finance for biodiversity conservation.
Recommended Action 4: Private sector actors should increase their opportunities to invest in biodiversity and minimize their biodiversity-related financial risks. In addition, major companies should adopt science-based targets for biodiversity within their operations and investments consistent with the 2050 vision of the UN Convention on Biodiversity.
Recommended Action 5: Governments and international agencies should improve the tracking and reporting on biodiversity finance. Additional public funding should be secured to support these institutions to enhance global finance data collection and build capacity of governments to collect and share data.
Recommended Action 6: In the context of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity negotiations, Parties should agree to develop and implement National Biodiversity Finance Plans (NBFPs) to guide the implementation of their national efforts towards the CBD’s new Global Biodiversity Framework. To achieve this outcome by 2030:
- Global target: increase financial flows to investments that generate improvements in biodiversity; globally to close the biodiversity finance gap by 2030 (est. US$ 598-824 billion annually);
- Process target: achieve 100% adoption of NBFBs by all parties by 2030;
- National targets: full and effective implantation of National Biodiversity Strategies and Plans;
- Global target: double international public funding for biodiversity by 2030, especially to help developing countries to implement their NBSAPs and NBFPs.
