Sierra Leone Telegraph: 23 September 2024:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) last week released its annual report of the main trends in international biodiversity finance.
The report measures contributions towards the finance target 19(a) of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which calls for developed countries to provide developing countries at least US$20 billion of international biodiversity finance per year by 2025.
The most recent data available for this report is from 2022. This report shows the level of international biodiversity finance increased to US$15.4 billion in 2022 from US$11.4 in 2021. While the US$20 billion target was commonly understood at the time of the GBF’s adoption in December 2022 as a doubling of the status quo, this report shows that the baseline was in fact much higher and that the US$20 billion target represents a 30% increase.
In response to the report, Campaign for Nature issues the following statement and an analysis of the report to highlight encouraging trends, areas of concern and recommendations for moving forward (provided as an appendix to this release):
Campaign for Nature’s Director, Brian O’Donnell said:
“This report shows that before COP15, international biodiversity finance was increasing significantly. That is welcome news. Now, it is critical that historic and new donors arrive at COP16 with substantial new funding announcements for developing countries – primarily in public grants, not loans – to meet the agreed US$20 billion by 2025 target. This will be the first test to see if donors are moving from pledges to action to deliver on the ambitious goals and targets of the GBF.
“Unprecedented biodiversity loss is an existential crisis. The most important areas that require urgent conservation to address this crisis are primarily located in the global south. Donors must prioritize development funding that has a principal purpose of biodiversity as it has a greater and more measurable impact than finance that has biodiversity as a secondary focus.
“With just 15 months remaining to meet the at least $20 billion target, a ministerial initiative should be launched by donor governments to provide leadership on the issue and ensure urgent action. This initiative must provide more transparent and timely reporting as agreed by OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members in 2024. We believe they must commit to annual reporting shortly after the end of each year so that the US$20 billion can be measurable at the deadline of the end of 2025, rather than after the current two-year lag.
“At COP16 we must see wealthy nations step up and do their part. The most important actions they can undertake are to increase finance to protect nature and reduce finance that is destroying nature. With biodiversity declining at rates unprecedented in human history, there is no time to wait.”
Martin Harper, CEO of BirdLife International said: “Governments in developed countries can and should do more to support. The good news is that we know the money is there. The world now spends $2.6 trillion every year on subsidies to industries that destroy nature (such as fossil fuels, intensive agriculture, forestry and fisheries). Redirecting even a small portion of these subsidies can help create positive investments for biodiversity which will benefit our own prosperity.”
Oscar Soria, Co-CEO of Common said: “The biodiversity finance gap is not just a crisis of ecosystems—it’s a crisis of equity. While $15.4 billion was mobilized for biodiversity in 2022, we’re still falling short of the $200 billion goal, leaving Indigenous communities and nature-rich regions underfunded and underprotected.
“The good news is that biodiversity funding hit $15.4 billion in 2022. The bad news is that dedicated funding for crucial projects like protected areas and restoration has declined since 2015. What’s more alarming is that most of the increase comes from loans, not grants, and mainstreamed funds now outweigh direct biodiversity support. With development budgets shrinking in key donor countries, the future of real biodiversity protection hangs in the balance.
“Private finance may have doubled for biodiversity, but the truth is stark: it’s a drop in the ocean. If we continue to rely on the private sector to fill the funding void without systemic change, the burden will fall hardest on those least responsible for environmental destruction—Indigenous peoples and local communities.
“Biodiversity is not a side note to development—it’s central to the survival of marginalized communities. As development finance for biodiversity is slowly taking shape, we must ensure it uplifts the rights of Indigenous peoples who are frontline defenders of ecosystems, not just token recipients of aid.”
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