MEDIA STATEMENT
Without Public Finance, We Can’t Protect Nature
November 11, 2020: This week, leaders of 450 public development banks representing 10% of total global investment will gather to discuss the role public finance can play in driving sustainable development that benefits people and the planet.
The Finance in Common Summit will underscore the role nature-positive public finance can play in establishing a healthy environment, critical to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Climate Agreement targets and the new, ambitious framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Central to this framework is a target to protect at least 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030.
Studies have shown that ecosystems services provided by nature are essential to meeting 80% of the Sustainable Development Goals and nature-based solutions represent 30% of the path to meet the Paris Agreement goals. Conserving nature has also been shown to be essential for preventing future pandemics.
Furthermore, studies have shown that closing the biodiversity funding gap needed to protect nature would have benefits that exceed costs by a factor of at least five-to-one and would support 30 million jobs in ecotourism and sustainable fisheries. Other reports have shown that over half of global GDP is dependent on nature – and a transition to a nature-positive economy could generate up to $10.1 trillion in annual business value and create 395 million jobs by 2030.
In response to Finance in Common event Campaign for Nature issued the following statements:
This unprecedented meeting of public finance leaders comes at a time when the world faces an uncertain global economy and rising environmental threats. Putting nature at the heart of economic development, strategies and decision making is critical to achieving nature-positive economies.
Public development banks can help close the biodiversity funding gap. But it is extremely important that they avoid financing activities that have negative impacts on nature. To do so, they must end their support for fossil fuel projects and companies and projects responsible for deforestation or the destruction of nature. Moving their investments towards a nature-positive economy would be a game-changer for nature and people--for decades to come.
Acting now in support of nature conservation, restoration and sustainable land use is a win for the planet, people and economies. Governments can set the stage now to unlock the sustainable finance opportunities we need to protect 30% of the Earth by 2030. Public finance can play a crucial role in supporting public policies and mobilizing both public and private resources at scale to put the world on a path to sustainability.
It is critical that increased public finance for nature gets to the people on the front lines of conservation. Indigenous peoples and local communities in developing countries are often the least responsible for biodiversity loss and climate change but bear much of the impacts. Supporting them can help address the nature and climate crisis.
CONTACT
For Campaign for Nature interview requests and quotes, please contact:
Kirsten Weymouth
National Geographic Society
+1 703.928.4995