Norway, Sweden Are The Only Rich Countries Left Providing Fair Share Of Nature Finance To Poor Countries

A new report said that Norway and Sweden are the only two nations that paid their fair share of nature finance to poor countries.

Financing Poor Countries

To address the increasing issues posed by biodiversity loss, the nations who are Parties to the Convention on Biological Biodiversity, the primary multilateral governance body for biodiversity, approved the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

As part of this framework, governments commit to a number of particular goals, one of which is to give poor countries at least $20 billion year by 2025, with that amount rising to at least $30 billion annually by 2030.

Finance for biodiversity is essential for poor nations. By looking at three case studies--Namibia, Nepal, and Mexico--it was discover that grants made possible by this framework allow developing nations to finance public goods that wouldn't bring in enough revenue from private investment.

A recent analysis has revealed that wealthy nations such as the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, and Spain are not giving poor countries less than half of their fair share of environment finance.

Greece and Poland were at the bottom of the scale, contributing barely 10% and 5% of what they should, respectively, while the UK was contributing roughly 24% of its pledge.

Researchers who examined each country's progress using data from 2021, the most recent year for which governments submitted statistics, found that countries are falling $11.6 billion short of their financial commitment globally and that they need to "dramatically scale up." Although some more promises have been made in the last three years, experts claim that they haven't "substantially moved the needle."

Wealthy Nations To Be Blamed

Over the past 60 years, wealthy nations have been mostly to blame for the destruction of natural areas worldwide. The payments made to less developed nations, who usually have smaller ecological footprints and the largest remaining biodiversity reserves, are intended to make up for this excessive use of the planet's natural resources.

Laetitia Pettinotti, the principal author and an ODI research fellow, expressed her hope that this report will serve as a wake-up call for high-income countries to fulfill their duties.

"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 amount that each nation will contribute to the financial pot was not specified in the 2022 COP15 pact. This research determines how much each of the 28 donor countries must give to the $20 billion by taking into consideration their population, gross national product, and historical influence on the environment.

Sara Pantuliano, the CEO of ODI, said rich countries are frequently shielded from personal accountability by collective agreements. Australia, together with Germany and France, almost completely fulfills the required obligations.

According to an accompanying report by Campaign for Nature, which commissioned the research, some countries have made financial contributions since 2021: 29 countries committed to giving the Global Environment Facility the equivalent of $480 million annually, while Canada, Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, Spain, and the UK committed to giving the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund the equivalent of $32 million annually.

The US did not pledge to contribute to the target because it is not a party to the GBF. The analysis determined that if it were included, it would be among the lowest performing.

At COP16 in Cali, Colombia, world leaders will convene to examine these financial obligations.