Public funding for nature conservation stalls at COP16

Wealthy nations appeared to hit a limit with how much they are willing to pay to conserve nature around the world, instead shifting their focus at the two-week United Nations biodiversity summit toward discussions of private money filling the funding gap.

At the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16) negotiations in Cali, Colombia, countries failed to figure out how they would mobilize $200 billion annually in conservation funding by 2030, including $30 billion that would come directly from rich nations.

That money, pledged two years ago as part of the landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreement, is meant to finance activities that boost nature, such as sustainable farming or patrolling wildlife reserves.

But there was no consensus as talks dragged on beyond the summit's scheduled end on Friday, during which dozens of delegations departed. By Saturday morning's roll call, there was no longer a quorum among the nearly 200 nations for an agreement to pass, forcing organizers to abruptly suspend the meeting.

Human activities such as farming, mining and urban development are increasingly pushing nature into crisis, with 1 million or so plant and animal species thought to be at risk of extinction.

Climate change, a result of fossil fuel burning, is also adding to nature's woes by raising temperatures and disrupting weather cycles.

Countries will meet again in Azerbaijan next week for the UN's COP29 climate summit, which again will be focused on the steep need for funding from wealthy nations to their poorer counterparts to help shoulder climate costs.

Even before the talks broke down, developed nations had signaled an unwillingness to offer large amounts of cash.

European governments, including Germany and the Netherlands, have slashed their foreign aid budgets over the last year, while France and the United Kingdom are also cutting back.

Government development money specifically targeted at nature conservation abroad fell to $3.8 billion in 2022 compared with $4.6 billion in 2015, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

At COP16, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres demanded that countries make significant new contributions to the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund.

The response was muted. Nations at COP16 pledged $163 million in contributions to the fund, bringing total contributions to roughly $400 million – far from a major contribution to the $30 billion target from nations by 2030.

The United States, which is not a party to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, has not contributed.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the country supports the convention and is helping to implement the Kunming-Montreal agreement. The U.S. has contributed close to half a billion dollars annually since the 2022 nature summit to international biodiversity efforts through a variety of avenues, the spokesperson said.

When it came to going after private capital, delegates at the COP16 summit agreed to a plan to charge pharmaceutical and other companies for their use of genetic information in the research and development of new commercial products.

An AstraZeneca spokesperson said in a statement the company is aligned with an industry association's concerns that payments for use of genetic information could stifle innovation, delay research-and-development efforts and create legal uncertainty.

Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, Merck and Sanofi did not respond to requests for a comment on the deal.

Experts estimate the plan could generate about $1 billion annually.

That still doesn't cover the billions needed to halt the collapse of ecosystems, like the Amazon rainforest or coral reefs. The world will need to devise ways for enticing private investment in nature-friendly projects, said Marcos Neto, director of global policy at the UN Development Program.

Some tools include green bonds or debt-for-nature swaps, whereby countries refinance their debt at lower interest rates in order to spend the savings on conservation. The World Economic Forum estimates that debt-for-nature swaps could generate $100 billion in nature funding.

(Cover: A western pygmy marmoset, the world's smallest monkey, usually found in the northwestern Amazon rainforest in Colombia and adjacent countries. /CFP)