Pressure is growing on rich countries to finance initiatives to protect biodiversity in developing countries, which are demanding a fund to implement the “pact of peace with nature” being negotiated in Montreal.
“Resource mobilization”, as participants at the 15th United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP15) refer to it, is omnipresent in conversations that seek to outline an agreement ambitious enough to halt the destruction of natural resources and species by 2030.
To achieve this, 193 countries have discussed in detail since December 3 about 20 goals to save ecosystems: protect 30% of land and seas, reduce pesticides, restore 20% or 30% of degraded soils, among others.
However, consensus on the exact measure of these ambitions seems distant if ways to cover the financial needs to achieve them, estimated between US$ 200 and 700 billion, are not established.
Dozens of countries, led by Brazil, India, Indonesia and Africa, are calling in unison for “financial subsidies of at least US$ 100 billion per year, or 1% of world GDP by 2030”. The value represents ten times more than current aid.
To cover this amount, the countries of the South want the creation of a new global fund for biodiversity.
‘The current context is much more favorable’, said this Tuesday (13) the co-chair of the negotiations, Basile Van Havre, after obtaining in November, at the climate COP27, a fund destined to compensate the climate damage suffered by poor countries.
– Not just public money –
Creating a new global biodiversity fund would be less effective than reforming existing financial mechanisms, Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault argued on Tuesday.
His position reflects the consensus among rich countries on the issue.
“The countries of the North believe that ambition must be accompanied by financial resources” and “they understood the need to have access to sources of financing that are transparent, predictable and accessible”, assured Guilbeault during a press conference.
But “creating a new fund could take years and, during those years, the countries of the South would not receive any money from that fund”, he warned, recalling that it took seven years to implement the current Global Environment Facility (FMAM), the main current mechanism for biodiversity.
“So I think it would be better to use existing funds” while implementing reforms that make money more accessible, he added.
“On the other hand, we have to agree that it cannot be just public money,” he declared. For Guilbeault, it is necessary to “look at all sources of financing”: private, philanthropic and public, as well as “the World Bank, the IMF and other development banks”.
At the end of the day, “there’s very little money on the table, that’s one of the main reasons why the conversation is difficult,” said Anna Ogniewska, a Greenpeace adviser.
“Moving forward requires much more significant commitments from the European Union and European governments,” he added.
However, the negotiations take place behind closed doors and it will be up to the Ministers of the Environment to resolve the matter during the political phase of the summit, which begins on Thursday.
“Donor countries are very careful not to commit to a promise they cannot keep,” said Van Havre, who said he sees “openness” in countries of the South “who realize it must be something realistic.”
Van Havre guaranteed that he was confident in the positive outcome of the negotiations in this regard and in the achievement of an ambitious global framework for nature.
In turn, the president of COP15 and China’s Minister of Ecology and Environment, Huang Runqiu, estimated that “all objectives can be accepted”.
But “the ambitions must be achievable” and “we must ensure that the framework can be applied on the ground”, he recalled.
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