Climate Weekly from Climate Home News:
As we’ve previously reported, unlocking more and better finance was set to become one of the main issues at COP16, but new money has been scarce.
A group of eight developed countries pledged an additional $163 million for nature conservation, which some observers called just “a drop in the ocean”. Twenty ministers, mostly from Africa, issued a statement expressing their concern over the lack of substantial new funding commitments.
Talks have centred on what to do with the current biodiversity fund, without much headway either. Some countries want a new fund to replace the current one sitting in the Global Environment Facility (GEF), while others think this would waste time.
The GEF’s CEO Carlos Manuel Rodriguez told Climate Home News creating a new fund could lead to a “fragmentation” of biodiversity funds. “Our main limitation is financial. If we had more resources we would do more,” Rodriguez said.
Meanwhile, the other “huge” challenge confronting COP16 has been the need for more plans to protect at least 30% of the Earth’s land and water. Some megadiverse countries including India, Peru and Thailand submitted their plans during the summit.
The total stands at 44, meaning there are still 150 countries that haven’t published their biodiversity plans. The laggards include Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, home to massive carbon sinks in the Amazon and Congo Basin. Brazil has promised to produce its plan this year.
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