Largest-ever private funding commitment for biodiversity a momentous move for a nature-positive world, says WWF
An amount of $5 billion of funding was announced for the restoration of global biodiversity at a high-level event on the margins of the UN General Assembly September 22, 2021.
More than 20 heads of state and governments, non-profits, indigenous groups and funding agencies participated in the event. It was titled Transformative Action for Nature and People and held in New York City and virtually.
The $5 billion pledged will be used over the next 10 years to ensure that 30 per cent of the planet is protected and preserved in the most important places for biodiversity by 2030, according to a statement by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
The fund will be used to create, monitor, expand and manage protected and conserved areas on land, in freshwater and in the sea.
Indigenous people, local communities, civil society and governments will be involved in the projects.
Some 75 financial institutions from around the globe also committed to end investments harmful to nature at the event. These institutions are worth 12 trillion euros in assets.
Recent research from WWF has revealed that 39 million jobs could be created if governments reallocated the $500 billion governments spent on harmful subsidies every year to employment which is nature-positive.
One of the showcased actions at the event included the new 930,000-hectare Mura-Drava-Danube Biosphere Reserve, the first 5-country biosphere reserve in the world, stretching over Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia declared by UNESCO this month.
Other positive examples included plans by indigenous conservation leaders from Canada to create six new indigenous-led protected areas.
The Green Climate Fund is seeking to expand its investments to restore ecosystems while creating jobs across developing countries.
Costa Rica is expanding their Cocos Island National Park to help achieve the protection of 30 per cent of their ocean.
Nigeria is establishing 10 new national parks and Belgium is increasing its global climate funding commitment by 30 per cent to 100 million euros annually, from 70 million and transitioning to sustainable food systems.
World leaders, including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado Quesada, Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez, and Muhammadu Buhari, president of Nigeria, spoke at the event.
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