UN urges faster biodiversity financing ahead of COP17

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UN calls for biodiversity action

Highlights

Guterres warns that by 2030, projected protection will reach only 26 per cent of terrestrial and 12 per cent of marine ecosystems, falling short of the 30 per cent goal under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Biodiversity financing is still below half of the $200 billion target, while in 2023, $7.3 trillion funded nature-negative industries and only $1 out of every $31 of investment supported nature protection.
The UN urges annual nature-based solutions investment to reach $571 billion by 2030, stressing that public budgets are insufficient and calling for increased private sector and international financial engagement.

Calls for stronger policy action

As reported by UN News, Guterres delivers the appeal in Yerevan before the opening of the COP17 biodiversity summit, warning that climate disruption, overgrazing and the excessive use of fertilisers and pesticides are intensifying pollution, biodiversity loss and climate chaos.

He says more than a million species face extinction and argues that biodiversity cannot be addressed separately from conflict, food insecurity, disease threats or climate change. While the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has helped drive action, he says progress remains uneven and too slow.

According to Guterres, nearly 90 per cent of parties have set national biodiversity targets and more than half have developed national road maps. Since 2022, another 1.3 million square kilometres of land and six million square kilometres of ocean have received formal protection, but current commitments would still leave protection levels at 26 per cent of terrestrial ecosystems and 12 per cent of marine ecosystems by 2030, below the goal of 30 per cent.

He calls on governments to show leadership by shifting from policies that destroy nature to practices that sustain it, including zero-waste and circular economies, sustainable farming, regenerative agriculture, stronger monitoring, greater transparency and firmer enforcement of existing laws. He also welcomes the Yerevan Declaration and its pledge to embed biodiversity in government policies, budgets and regulations.

Funding gap and pressure on business

Guterres says the financial response remains one of the biggest weaknesses in the global effort, with biodiversity financing still below half of the $200 billion agreed under the Framework. He argues that governments are still backing harmful activity at scale, saying that for every dollar invested in protecting nature, $30 goes to activities that damage it.

He says $7.3 trillion flows into nature-negative industries in 2023, including polluting heavy industry, destructive agribusiness and fossil fuels. In his view, meeting global biodiversity, climate and land-restoration goals requires annual investment in nature-based solutions to reach $571 billion by 2030, or about 0.5 per cent of global gross domestic product.

Guterres adds that public budgets alone will not close the gap and urges the private sector to contribute more, pointing to the UN-backed Cali Fund as a way for companies that benefit from nature to help finance its protection. He also links the biodiversity agenda to broader development finance, saying many developing countries cannot invest enough in nature and human development because of debt burdens, limited public budgets and an inequitable international financial system.

He says renewable energy shows how capital can shift, noting that solar power costs have fallen by almost 90 per cent since 2010 and clean energy investment is now nearly double fossil fuel investment. His final appeal is for wider participation from young people, civil society, women, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, which he describes as both highly exposed to environmental decline and central to effective solutions.

Our earlier article on the UN-backed Strait of Hormuz fertilizer transit plan explained that the mechanism remains stalled pending a U.S.-Iran agreement, even as key planting windows approach in import-dependent regions. We noted that prolonged shipping disruption could restrict supplies of critical inputs like urea and sulphur, pushing up food and commodity prices and worsening food-security risks across parts of Asia and Africa.

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