West must walk its talk on conservation

The 16th meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP16) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) last week ended anti-climactically: It was suspended because the quorum couldn’t be met in time for an outcome announcement, and it is not clear when, or if, it will be resumed. To be sure, the global effort to stem and try to reverse biodiversity loss due to anthropogenic causes did have breakthroughs: The conference agreed on a mechanism to compensate origin jurisdictions for the commercial use of biological information and the creation of a body within the Convention to ensure indigenous groups are included.
But the highlight of COP16 will be a club of rich nations stymieing attempts to close the gap on conservation financing — a key goal of the landmark 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Raising $200 billion annually by 2030 — $20 billion from rich nations by 2025 — was a CBD priority. However, the European Union, Canada, Japan, Norway, and other developed nations opposed the creation of a dedicated fund, a non-negotiable for the Global South where biodiversity is most at risk. The West’s reluctance to play an active role in conservation financing is baffling given how it can’t shrug off its historic role in biodiversity loss across the globe — its record of colonisation, the heavy footprint of its consumption and imports on the depletion of biological wealth in the developing world can’t be wished away.
The failure to decide on the fund and commit to financing erodes trust between the Global South and the developed world, with just days to the start of the 29th edition of the global climate action talks. The West must bear in mind that a repeat of the earlier script, of a grand vision that isn’t backed by commensurate action, can only harm the planet.