Updates with comments from UNDP, World Wildlife Fund, and Wildlife Conservation Society
The Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) Fund was formally launched Thursday to scale action on biodiversity across 186 countries, but only two countries provided funds at the announcement.
The launch comes eight months after countries signed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which includes 23 targets aimed to tackle extreme biodiversity loss. The GBF is often hailed as significant for nature as the Paris Agreement has been for greenhouse gas emissions.
The new GBF Fund is designed to support countries to achieve those 23 targets and was announced by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) at their quadrennial assembly in Vancouver on Thursday after being agreed in June. The GEF manages multilateral donations across six environmental conventions that cover land degradation, greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity loss.
“Countries have come together in Vancouver to turn things around for the health of the planet and its people. This is a hugely positive moment that will be remembered far into the future. We have shown at the Seventh GEF Assembly that even in difficult conditions – with wildfire smoke as our backdrop – we can move forward to build a more biodiverse planet for everyone’s benefit,” said Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO of the GEF, in a statement.
A theme through the GEF Assembly has been on how to be as inclusive as possible with a major focus on the role of Indigenous Peoples, youth, and women. The GEF announced that as much as 20% of the GBF Fund is expected to go to Indigenous-led initiatives to protect and conserve biodiversity.
It will also prioritise support for Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries, which will receive more than 30% of the fund’s resources.
The GEF aims to open exclusive funding mechanisms so Indigenous peoples, civil society, and sub-national entities can access funds directly, assuming they have the capacity to do so.
The GBF Fund will sit separately from the regular budget of the GEF and will be capitalised through additional donations from countries and philanthropic organisations.
COPS AND COFFERS
At COP15 last year, host country Canada committed C$350 mln to support countries in implementing the GBF. It was also the first to donate to the new fund with C$200 mln ($147 mln) announced by Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault, as the first tranche of their overall commitment.
“The urgency of a global response has never been greater. Over the last eight months, since COP15, we have seen outstanding collaboration between countries and international partners, and we need to keep the momentum going,” said Guilbeault in a statement.
“Canada’s longstanding partnership with the GEF is central to our efforts and underscores our shared commitment to collaboration and climate action.”
UK IN
The UK delegation was the only other country to announce funds at the GEF Assembly, with a $10 mln ‘downpayment’ to the fund, citing that the country is partway through a fiscal cycle so commitments are limited while alluding to further donations in the future.
“As we confront the critical challenge of halting and reversing biodiversity loss around the world, working together has never been more important. The initial contribution to the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund showcases the United Kingdom’s ongoing dedication to protecting our planet’s natural diversity,” Trudy Harrison, the UK’s minister for natural environment and land use, said in a statement.
Several donor nations stopped short of announcing contributions to the fund. The delegation from Japan matched the rhetoric from Canada and the UK and pointed to the establishment of a separate $17 mln Japan Biodiversity Fund, first established in 2010, that supports countries to deliver their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs).
Similarly, China set up a separate Kunming Biodiversity Fund at COP15, equivalent to $233 mln, choosing not to contribute directly to the newly ratified fund.
The challenge of early capitalisation of the fund was addressed by GEF’s Rodriguez in a subsequent press conference, who said the announcement came at a time when countries are halfway through their fiscal year, which limited the amount the funds could raise.
Rodriguez confirmed that this year the fund would be established within the World Bank with the current donations received. From 2024, a full capitalisation period will take place where more donations are expected from countries, but was reluctant to state a specific target for the fund beyond the initial $200 mln target for 2024.
TIME IS MONEY
A recent study by the UNEP Finance Initiative showed that 58% of countries spend less than 0.5% of their GDP on protecting the environment, and that funding lacked the most where biodiversity richest.
Tropical countries including South Africa and Brazil raised this challenge during their plenary statements by highlighting how they lack biodiversity funding but are mega-diverse, housing a significant proportion of the world’s biodiversity.
The GBF Fund’s financial success will likely be judged against how quickly funds can be mobilised to cover some of those gaps and meet objectives within Target 19 of the GBF, to mobilise at least $20 bln a year in two years’ time and $30 bln a year from international financial resources.
The GEF, as the world’s largest environment donor, will be expected to house a significant share of the funding pot.
Countries are well aware of how big the funding pot needs to be to address biodiversity and the urgency of the challenge ahead. Target 19 of the GBF required $200 bln annually to go implementation of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, within the next seven years.
That is unlikely to come from the public sector alone and the GBF sees the private sector, including through biodiversity credit markets, as a central source to achieving that target.
The first GBF Fund council meeting will take place in Jan. 2024 and the work programme is expected to be approved by June that year, said Rodriguez. He added he had hoped to achieve a first disbursement from the fund before the biodiversity COP16 towards the end of next year.
REACTIONS
UNDP, a major implementing partner of the GEF, welcomed the fund’s announcement.
“The new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund will be critical for delivering on the goals and targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework. It now needs contributions from both public and private sources to set off a chain reaction of new, momentous action on ecosystems and biodiversity so that all countries and communities can play their part in restoring the delicate equilibrium between people and our natural world. There is no possibility of sustainable development without functioning ecosystems,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner in a statement.
Earlier this week UNDP’s director of environmental finance told Carbon Pulse that the private sector has a key role to play in hitting funding targets for biodiversity.
Environmental organisations also praised the announcements made at GEF.
“We applaud Canada and the United Kingdom for announcing contributions to the fund. Their commitments will hopefully attract additional investments from other governments, philanthropy, and the private sector,” said Monica Medina, president and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society, in a statement.
“This is a major achievement that will assist developing countries with their commitment to halt and reverse the loss of nature by 2030,” said Lin Li, WWF International’s senior director of global policy and advocacy in a separate statement.
However, WWF noted that the GBF Fund cannot function until an additional $40 mln is pledged to meet the minimum $200 mln required under World Bank rules. The environmental organisation reiterated its previous calls for donors to provide the cash for developing countries and get the fund off the ground.
By Tom Woolnough – tom@carbon-pulse.com
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