Report highlights need to meet target of providing $20 billion a year to developing countries from 2025

Developed countries might not be able to meet the commitment to provide $20 billion per year in biodiversity finance to developing countries by 2025, a new report flagged. This target is part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework or the Biodiversity Plan adopted in 2022 at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16).

The report commissioned by the Campaign for Nature, a United States-based non-profit, pointed out that developed countries need to pay more. The analysis showed that only two out of 28 developed countries are contributing their fair share of the $20 billion, with most of them needing to at least double their funding to help halt and reverse biodiversity loss across Earth. This is a worrisome trend, considering that the deadline is just a few months away.

The report’s calculations took into account countries’ historical impact on biodiversity, their ability to pay and population size in calculating what they should pay. The analysts found: Norway and Sweden were the only countries providing more than their fair share, Germany and France were providing 99 per cent and 92 per cent, respectively, and Australia was at 74 per cent of its fair share. The largest dollar gaps were in Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Korea and Spain. Together, they account for 71 per cent of the aggregate shortfall.

The report A fair share of biodiversity finance: Apportioning responsibility for the $20 billion target by 2025 laid out how the gap can be closed before time runs out. Campaign for Nature has called on developed countries to increase funding; set up a ministerial level initiative to coordinate the delivery of this funding; and mobilize private resources through regulation and incentives, which alongside public finance and philanthropic contributions can help meet the $20 billion target.

The non-profit also said that US, which is not a party to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, but has the largest economy in the world and the largest historical biodiversity footprint, should urgently and significantly increase its international nature finance.

Progress on this $20 billion promise is now critical to building trust between the Global North and Global South for the upcoming nature COP16 in Colombia, as much of the world’s remaining biodiversity is located in developing countries who will bear a disproportionate share of the responsibility and costs of saving precious biomes.

It is already established that protecting global biodiversity can provide high economic return. According to the World Economic Forum, half of global GDP ($44 trillion per year) is dependent on nature and $20 billion is a relatively small contribution to developing countries who have protected biodiversity for ages. 

Investment is also crucial as the continued ecological loss will have serious implications for food and water supplies, climate, disease outbreaks, as well as peace and security globally. Analysis from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showed that from 1997 to 2011, the world lost between $4-20 trillion every year due to factors such as lower crop yields, fewer fish catches, higher costs due to flooding and loss of potential new sources of medicine.

“Failing to reach the target undermines the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and damages trust. But far more importantly, this failure represents a genuine threat to our shared prosperity, livelihoods, economies and health. We hope this report serves as a wake-up call for high income countries to fulfil their obligations – their contributions to biodiversity finance are critically important and must increase,” said Laetitia Pettinotti, lead author of the study and a research fellow at ODI, commissioned by Campaign for Nature to carry out the study. ODI is an independent think tank.