The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has applauded the resolution taken at the much – contested biodiversity conference, in Rome this week.
Countries gathered as part of the 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16), to agree on issues for the implementation of the historic Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.
Efraim Gomez, Global Policy Director at WWF International said “state parties have taken a step in the right direction. We commend them for reaching these multilateral gains in a challenging context of global politics. There is consensus on a way forward to midwife the financial arrangements we need to arrest biodiversity loss and restore nature.”
WWF International said a major outcome in Rome was the launch of the Cali Fund.
The fund seeks to mobilize crucial financial resources from companies using digitally sequenced genetic data.
“Though it is yet to receive contributions, the fund represents a significant win for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, who are expected to receive 50% of its funding to support local biodiversity actions. WWF expects the Cali Fund to be crucial for ensuring progress against all three objectives of the Convention, towards 2030 and beyond.”
Gomez also said this step is not enough.
He said it remains a point of concern that developed nations are not on track to honouring their commitment of raising 20 billion USD by 2025 for developing nations.
“Investing in nature is existential, it is a global life insurance. Through it, we can mitigate the climate crisis, make ecosystems and communities more resilient, stabilize food prices and lock away carbons that fuel extreme weather patterns and displace people. We must seize the opportunity to invest in nature” he said.
Parties agreed on a roadmap to 2030 for funding for the conservation of nature, including a decision in 2028 on how to operate the financial mechanism.
The new biodiversity finance architecture is expected to help drive biodiversity actions well beyond 2030.
Prior to the Conference, Jessika Roswall, European Union Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, said “the EU and its Member States remain fully committed to the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework. At these resumed negotiations, together we must find a way to continue mobilising resources from all sources and ensure continued biodiversity financing after 2030 that is effective and coherent. We are ready to work together with all parties to move forward and build on the progress made in Cali.”