Environmental leaders of 185 countries on Thursday agreed at the Global Environment Facility's seventh assembly to launch an innovative new fund for biodiversity that will attract funding from governments, philanthropy, and the private sector.

The new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund has been designed to mobilize and accelerate investment in the conservation and sustainability of wild species and ecosystems, whose health is under threat from wildfires, flooding, extreme weather, and human activity including urban sprawl, according to a press release issued by the Global Environment Facility.

The new fund will mobilize and disburse new and additional resources from public, private, and philanthropic sources, with a focus on the sustainability of biodiversity and ecosystems, the release said, adding that as much as 20 percent of its resources will support Indigenous-led initiatives to protect and conserve biodiversity.

It will also prioritize support for Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries, which will receive more than a third of the fund's resources, the release said.

"This shows the determination of the world community to implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and shows that the world is moving from agreement to action," said David Cooper, acting executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The Global Environment Facility is a family of funds supporting developing countries' action on inter-related environmental challenges, including biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution.

It gathers once every four years and, this time, has brought together 1,500 representatives from around the world to Vancouver, Canada, during August 22-26. 

(Cover image via CFP)

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