The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) has received $163 million from Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, and Québec (first pledge from a subnational government).
This makes the total contributors to be 12 — the earlier ones include Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, and Spain. These funds will support the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF).
Biodiversity conservation has a funding gap of $700 billion. Developed countries have agreed to provide $20 billion by 2025 and $200 billion each year by 2030.
“I want to thank the national and subnational donors who stepped forward today to contribute to the GBFF. We know that the fund is needed now more than ever,” said Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Colombia’s Environment Minister and COP16 President Susana Muhamad said that we all should consider ourselves partners with a common objective, which is actually in this case being able to implement the KMGBF.
The GBFF was established at the request of parties to the CBD’s COP15 and was launched less than a year later at the Seventh GEF Assembly in August 2023. Though GBFF can receive funds from philanthropies, none have contributed so far.
In June 2024, the GBFF Council approved the fund’s first work program, with four projects in Brazil, Gabon, and Mexico, and another 18 project preparation grants approved. In total, 24 developing countries, including 13 Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States, are currently accessing support from the fund.
The fund has a target of having 20 per cent of its funding support led by Indigenous Peoples and local communities.