TWN Info Service on Finance and Development (Nov24/01)
1 November 2024
Third World Network

Like-minded developing countries call for equity and ambition in biodiversity finance

Cali, 31 October (Lim Li Ching) – Developing countries have strongly called for equity and ambition in the provision of biodiversity financial resources.

As holders of most of the world’s biodiversity, developing countries bear the greater responsibility to take action on biodiversity loss. Yet, the financial resources to implement these commitments have not been forthcoming from developed countries, despite clear obligations on developed countries to do so under Article 20 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Parties to the CBD are meeting in Cali, Colombia at the 16^th Conference of the Parties (COP16). The talks, which began on 21^st October, are scheduled to end on 1st November. The agenda item on ‘resource mobilization’ has been among the most difficult, with extremely stark North-South divides.

Parties came to COP16 with a draft decision from the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI), which met at its 4^th meeting in Nairobi earlier in the year. The text contained more than 400 square brackets (indicating disagreement).

At that meeting, developing countries expressed extreme disappointment with the unmet targets on resource mobilization set by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), and the refusal of developed countries to agree to establishing a dedicated Global Biodiversity Fund under the authority of the COP, at COP16. (See ‘Developing countries decry broken promises on financial resources’, SUNS #10020, 6 June 2024.)

In Cali, positions were still as far apart as before, with clear evidence of a lack of trust between developed and developing countries. In the developed countries’ view, they were on track to meet the targets, while “under no conditions” would they accept the establishment of a dedicated Global Biodiversity Fund.

After eight sessions of the Contact Group, co-chaired by Ines Verleye of Belgium and Patrick Luna of Brazil, and with little progress on these issues, frustration boiled over.

Bolivia, on behalf of the like-minded group of developing countries, made a statement at the end of the stocktake plenary which went on overnight until early in the morning of 31^st  October.

The statement was endorsed by the 54 countries of the African Group, Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Bolivia, Cook Islands, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Fiji, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Kiribati, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu and Venezuela.

The like-minded group reminded the plenary that “trust must be based on equity”, recalling the existing obligations of developed countries under Article 20 of the Convention.

(Article 20 on financial resources operationalizes the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, with clear obligations on developed countries to provide financial resources to developing countries, so that developing countries can effectively implement their commitments.)

The like-minded group called for the provision of predictable, new, additional, accessible and adequate finance from developed countries to developing countries, which would be a key enabler for enhanced biodiversity-related actions in developing countries.

While appreciating the efforts of developed countries to capitalize the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, set up to support the implementation of the KMGBF, the group called on developed countries to fully meet its Target 19(a).

This target calls for an increase in total biodiversity related international financial resources, including official development assistance, to developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition, to at least $20 billion per year by 2025, and to at least $30 billion per year by 2030.

The like-minded group highlighted that since the adoption of the KMGBF and its Target 19(a), the goal to mobilize at least $20 billion per year by 2025 has not been fully met. This figure by now, would amount to an even larger, cumulative amount.

It cautioned that “any attempt to deny that is not acceptable”.

(Assuming 2023 as the start year, by 2025, the total provision should be at least $60 billion, and at least $210 billion by 2030.)

Further, the like-minded group called for a more robust and effective financial mechanism, under the authority of the COP, for the implementation of Articles 20 and 21 (on the financial mechanism) of the Convention.

This dedicated fund would be different from the interim financial mechanism of the CBD, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), but would help ensure that new, additional, and adequate financial resources are provided by developed countries to developing countries, pursuant to Article 20.

“This is why we are calling for the establishment, here at COP16, of a dedicated Global Biodiversity Fund”, the group reiterated.

In parallel to the establishment of the dedicated Global Biodiversity Fund, the like-minded group also called for an intergovernmental, inclusive and time-bound process to negotiate the operationalization of the institutional arrangements, for the consideration of COP17.

“We are convinced that the outcome of our work here must be based on both equity and ambition,” the group concluded. +