Rome [Italy], March 2: Governments on Friday reached agreement on a strategy to raise an additional $200 billion each year to better protect the world's flora and fauna by 2030.
Delegates met in Rome for the resumption of the UN Biodiversity Conference to hammer out an agreement at COP16.2 after attempts to reach a deal on financing at COP16 in Cali, Colombia, fell short last November.
It is hoped that the hard-won decisions made by parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity will shore up biodiversity and fragile ecosystems which are bearing the brunt of increased conflict, deforestation, mining, toxic waste dumping and other environmental impacts worldwide.
"We very much welcome this announcement," the UN Secretary-General's Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday. "We need to mobilise at least $200 billion dollars a year by 2030 to close the global biodiversity finance gap."
"These days of work in Rome have demonstrated the commitment of the parties to advance the implementation of the [Kunming-Montreal] Global Biodiversity Framework," said COP16 president Susana Muhamad, referring to the landmark 2022 agreement and underscoring "the collective effort to reach consensus of key issues that were left pending in Cali".
The Global Biodiversity Framework aims to address biodiversity loss, restore ecosystems and protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, who suffer disproportionately from biodiversity loss and environmental degradation.
The global framework also contains concrete measures to halt and reverse nature loss, including protection measures covering 30% of the planet and 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems by 2030.
Currently only 17% of land and around eight per cent of marine areas are protected.
"Only by working together can we make peace with nature a reality," she said.
Source: Emirates News Agency
