As Threats to Biodiversity Soar, Governments Must Boost Conservation Funding

A fundamental truth about large-scale conservation – which is essential for enhancing biodiversity, ecosystem health, climate stability and ultimately human well-being – is that it requires substantial financial investment. Nations often cite this as a major challenge, yet annual government expenditures on subsidies for agriculture, forestry and fisheries that harm the environment are up to eight times greater than funding that supports nature. Collectively, the global community can and must do better.

This year’s meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, which opened Sept. 10 in New York, offers a chance to fix that. In fact, the General Assembly marks the start of a series of key international meetings through the end of 2024 that offer important opportunities for developed countries to deliver on their pledges to provide the financing needed to protect biodiversity and to eliminate or reform harmful subsidies.

And doing so is vital: Healthy biodiversity improves many facets of the world’s economy and social stability, from food security and climate regulation to clean air and water, human mental and physical health, and massive industries such as outdoor recreation and tourism. That’s why, in December 2022, the Convention on Biological Diversity set a clear objective: to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and sustain a livable planet.

In recent years, along with the global community’s adoption of that and other ambitious conservation targets, developed countries that are parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity agreed to collectively provide developing countries – which harbor most of the world’s remaining biodiversity – with at least $20 billion annually by 2025 and $30 billion a year by 2030 to fund ambitious national biodiversity action plans. A new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development finds that developed countries provided $15.4 billion in 2022, a welcome increase over previous years but still short of next year’s committed target. Much of this growth came through loans, which add to countries’ debt burdens, rather than grants, the preferred mechanism.

Governments currently provide over 80 per cent of financing for nature-based solutions; increasing public funding is the largest and most important contribution to filling the financing gap that exists. The private sector, philanthropic donors and nongovernmental organizations also have important roles to play, not just in providing funding but also in collaborating to develop innovative financial mechanisms and approaches that can channel resources effectively.

Some of this work is already happening. Enduring Earth – an ambitious collaboration among The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund and ZOMALAB – works to bring together governments and local communities, in partnership with funders and NGOs, to secure long-term financing and management for networks of conservation areas.

Enduring Earth is working with more than 100 partners, governments, Indigenous communities, local communities and funders across 12 projects in 11 countries to durably protect 370 million hectares (around 1.4 million square miles) of ocean, lands and freshwater – an area similar in size to India.

In another example, Ecuador’s successful debt conversion in 2023 will provide more than $450 million to help conserve the marine waters surrounding the Galápagos Islands and will save the country more than $1 billion in borrowing costs. The deal came together with the help of a wide range of partners, including the government, industry, local communities, fishers, the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project, the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. and the Inter-American Development Bank.

These are just two examples of the many ways the global community can come together to make significant progress to restore and protect nature and benefit people. And with the 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 16) and the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 29) slated for October and November – in Colombia and Azerbaijan, respectively – leaders should seize the chance at each of these milestone moments to unlock the funding needed to protect the planet.

This ambition is about more than preserving biodiversity for its own sake – although that’s important. It’s also about securing a stable, prosperous future for humanity. As these crucial international meetings approach, governments and stakeholders should recognize the urgency of this moment. Increased funding for conservation isn’t a cost; it’s a wise investment in a shared future.

Masha Kalinina coordinates The Pew Charitable Trusts’ cross-campaign efforts with the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, and Keith Lawrence is a project director with Pew’s conservation support team.