A new report by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) reveals that rich countries like the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, and Spain are contributing less than half their fair share of funding for nature restoration in poorer countries.

Developed nations had agreed to collectively provide at least $20 billion annually by 2025 for this purpose, in addition to the $100 billion already pledged for climate finance.

Currently, only Norway and Sweden meet their commitments, with most developed countries failing to provide even half of their fair share. The UK, for instance, contributes about 24% of its commitment, while Greece and Poland contribute only about 10% and 5%, respectively.

Globally, nations are $11.6 billion short of these financial commitments and need to significantly increase their contributions. This shortfall was identified based on 2021 data, the most recent available, with recent pledges not substantially altering the situation.

The report emphasises that wealthy countries have been largely responsible for the global loss of nature over the past 60 years. The payments to poorer countries, which generally have the most significant biodiversity reserves and smaller ecological footprints, aim to compensate for the overconsumption of natural resources by richer nations.

This report marks the first analysis of individual donor countries’ adherence to their financial commitments made in the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) at Cop15.

Earth’s wildlife populations have plunged by an average of 69% in just under 50 years, and for decades nations have failed to meet UN targets to stop this decline.

“We hope this report serves as a wake-up call for high-income countries to fulfil their obligations,” said Laetitia Pettinotti, the lead author and a research fellow at ODI.

“Failing to reach the target undermines the UN convention on biological diversity and damages trust. But far more importantly, this failure represents a genuine threat to our shared prosperity, livelihoods, economies and health,” she said.

The framework outlined nature targets for the next decade without specifying each country’s contribution. The ODI report calculates the fair share for 28 donor countries based on their historical impact on nature, gross national income, and population.

Sara Pantuliano, the chief executive of ODI, said: “We are far from reaching this goal and must dramatically scale up our contributions within the next year.”

Collective agreements often shield wealthy nations from individual responsibility, she said: “Apportioning responsibility is a necessary step to enhance accountability, transparency and awareness.”

Germany, France, and Australia are close to meeting their necessary contributions.

Meanwhile, 29 countries have pledged $480 million annually to the Global Environment Facility, and Canada, Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, Spain, and the UK have committed $32 million annually to the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund.

The report states: “While these are positive developments, it is not expected that these recent contributions substantially move the needle for those countries that are marked as below 50% of their fair share.”

The US, not a party to the GBF, would be one of the worst performers if included in the assessment.

Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, said: “The world is already spending $1.8tn each year on subsidising industries that are destroying nature. The pledge of $20bn a year is equivalent to only 1.1%, or about four days, of those subsidies. Wealthy governments have no excuse but to act with greater urgency.”

World leaders will review these financial commitments at Cop16 in Cali, Colombia. Dr. Nicola Ranger from the University of Oxford, not involved in the research, supports the findings, suggesting the UK’s responsibility could be larger if accounting for its global supply chain impacts and finance for polluting and deforestation-linked sectors.

“We’ve been turning the world’s nature capital into economic and financial capital for decades,” she said.

She added: “To meet our international commitments, the UK would need to accelerate our funding by a factor of four. It is right that the UK takes responsibility and plays its part in protecting biodiversity and meeting these global goals. But it is also squarely in our interests to do so … our economy is highly exposed to nature-related risks, of which half come from environmental damage overseas.”

 

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