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Countries at the resumed COP16 talks in Rome in late February agreed to mobilise at least $200bn per year by 2030 for biodiversity conservation. They also established a “permanent arrangement” for biodiversity finance, ensuring continued funding beyond 2030. Despite geopolitical instability and previous stalled negotiations in Colombia, the agreement is seen as a victory for multilateralism. However, challenges remain – three-quarters of nations have not yet submitted their biodiversity plans and of those who have, many do not commit to protecting 30% of land and seas by 2030. The US, a major biodiversity donor, has withdrawn most of its nature funding under Donald Trump. (Carbon Brief)
Why does this matter? Biodiversity is critical to the ecosystem resources that humans rely on for their health, livelihoods and income, and it has an integral role in helping mitigate climate change. However, one million species face extinction while unsustainable farming and consumption continue to destroy forests, degrade soils and spread plastic pollution across the planet. Recent research indicates that wildlife populations have declined by an alarming 73% between 1970 and 2020.
The impact of biodiversity loss is felt most deeply in developing countries, demonstrating the urgent need for financing and nature protection. Rio Tinto is a committed supporter of conservation efforts and is a member of the Business for Nature’s Call to Action (B4N), which has mandated all large companies to report their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity by 2030.
The original COP16 summit in Cali, Colombia, was suspended due to disagreements about biodiversity finance on 2 November. The Rome meeting overcame these issues with the $200bn target, including commitments to raise $20bn annually for developing countries by 2025, rising to $30bn by 2030. The permanent financial mechanism, decades in the making, will support the delivery of key pledges under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), which was adopted in 2022 to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.
Countries also agreed on a roadmap to develop the financial mechanism, including establishing its criteria by COP17 next year in Armenia, determining if it will take the form of a new fund by COP18, and, if so, ensuring it is operational by COP19 in 2030. They also agreed to reform existing financial institutions and mobilise funding from “all sources” to bridge the $200bn annual biodiversity funding gap. The executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has also been requested to “facilitate an international dialogue” involving environment and finance ministers from both developing and developed countries to accelerate resource mobilisation.
Still, critics argued that the agreement did not go far enough with Bolivia’s negotiator, Juan Carlos Alurralde Tejada, saying that the text weakened commitments to biodiversity and paved the way to endless discussions about who will pay and how funds will be distributed. Datuama Cammue, the negotiator for Liberia, added that the UN process had been too slow and did not believe it would be possible to implement the biodiversity targets within five years.
Elsewhere, the Cali Fund, established at the November meeting, was formally launched in Rome. The fund expects large companies, such as those in the pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and agricultural biotechnology, to contribute a portion of their profits or revenues voluntarily. At least 50% of the fund’s resources will be distributed to Indigenous people and local communities in recognition of their role as custodians of biodiversity.