Countries agree on nature plan but funding lags — SkimNews
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- Nearly 200 countries reached a new agreement on a global nature action plan in Yerevan after nearly two weeks of negotiations, finalizing key elements hours past the scheduled end.
- Countries acknowledged they are failing to meet most of the 24 targets set in the 2022 Global Biodiversity Framework, with the UN reporting only one target on track for 2030.
- Governments pledged over $1bn for nature recovery, including $500m from philanthropists like Leonardo DiCaprio’s Re:wild, but remain far from the $30bn public funding goal set in 2022.
- Anna Ducros noted progress on reducing harmful environmental subsidies, citing large-scale fishing trawling as an example of government-funded activities that damage nature while also funding conservation.
- Saudi Arabia and Russia blocked consensus on approving scientific reports about the state of nature, drawing criticism for politicizing scientific processes.
Why it matters: The $1bn pledged is less than 4% of the $30bn public funding target, and with countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia resisting scientific consensus, implementation of the biodiversity agenda becomes harder just as ecosystem collapse risks accelerate. This shortfall directly undermines the 2030 timeline for reversing nature loss.
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