Open Letter
The G7 Have A Duty To Keep Nature On Top Of The Global Agenda
An Open Letter from Campaign for Nature’s (CfN) Global Steering Committee
April 22, 2024
The CfN Global Steering Committee constitutes the highest-profile political group working to safeguard nature. This esteemed group of former heads of state, ministers, diplomats, and scientists has tirelessly championed the global goal to protect and conserve at least 30% of the world’s lands and waters by 2030. Against the backdrop of increasingly concerning headlines regarding climate change and nature loss, they are urging G7 leaders to prioritize the delivery of commitments made to invest in nature. The full letter can be read below:
Dear G7 Leaders,
2023 saw yet another year of planetary boundaries being pushed to the brink. Raging wildfires ravaged North America and mainland Europe, floods devastated North Africa and southern Asia, the horn of Africa battled its biggest drought in 40 years, small island developing states fought for their survival at COP28 and thousands of species around the world continued fighting against their extinction. In 2023 we wrote to leaders around the world as a group of former heads of state, ministers, diplomats, and scientists, united by a firm belief that governments must act with greater urgency to meet the promises they made within the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (K-M GBF) to invest in nature and confront the alarming loss of biodiversity around the world.
However, we are disappointed to note that over the past year, despite increasing evidence of nature’s rapid decline and its implications for our economies and livelihoods, there has been little progress in meeting the most imminent deadline in the global nature agreement to deliver at least $20 billion per year in international nature finance to the developing world by 2025 and to ensure that an increased percentage of that biodiversity financing goes to Indigenous Peoples and local communities, who help conserve 80 per cent of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity but receive less than one per cent of the funding. Without adequate funding, it will be impossible to deliver the prominent target to protect at least 30% of the planet by 2030.
The G7 has a historical and moral responsibility to contribute financially because of its ecological footprint and $20 billion annually is actually a small sum to pay to help low and middle-income countries of the Global South preserve the most threatened and critical ecosystems that sustain our fragile world. Protecting these Intact biomes stabilizes our climate, secures rainfall for our food supply and reduces storms in the Global North, as well as buffers against the outbreak of new diseases. Furthermore, this investment will create high economic returns - the World Economic Forum reported that a transition to a nature-positive economy could generate up to $10.1 trillion in business value every year and create 395 million jobs by 2030. In short, the developed world has already agreed to deliver at least $20 billion per year and this isn’t charity.
Now the G7 has just one year to ensure developed countries keep their word and double current funding levels to confront the runaway extinction crisis. We urge you to reiterate your $20 billion promise at this year's G7 and to prioritise this issue and utilize the key UN conferences this year, including COP16 in Colombia, to devise a roadmap and announce new nature finance commitments from your governments.
The G7 has successfully raised the profile of nature in the last five years and driven ambitious action on the global stage. Now is the time to build on these commitments to truly turn the tide on nature loss. We implore you not to let the world down. The natural world deserves your attention and prioritization and delivery of the $20 billion is a small price to pay for our collective future.
We are running out of time. The world is counting on you.
Sincerely,
Russ Feingold, former US Senator and Chair of the GSC
H.E. Iván Duque, former President of Colombia
H.E. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland
H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia
H.E. Ernest Bai Koroma, former President of Sierra Leone
H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn, former Prime Minister of Ethiopia
H.E. Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, former Prime Minister of Uganda
H.E. Yongyuth Yuthavong, former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand
H.E. Loren Legarda, Senate President Pro Tempore of the Philippine Senate
Lord Zac Goldsmith, former Minister of State for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment, United Kingdom
H.E. Graça Machel, former First Lady and Minister for Education and Culture, Mozambique, South Africa
H.E. Susana Malcorra, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Argentina
Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary UNFCCC
Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Professor Rashid Sumaila, Professor of Ocean and Fisheries Economics
Professor Zakri Hamid, Former Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia
Tony La Viña, Environmental Policy Expert
More information on the CfN Global Steering Committee can be found here.
Media and Interview Request Contact:
Katy Roxburgh – Director of Communications, Campaign for Nature