Countries fall short of 2030 biodiversity targets as funding gaps persist

A £6 billion aid commitment over three years, with a quarter allocated to nature, is insufficient to meet the 30% land and sea protection target by 2030. If current national commitments are met by the end of the decade, only 26% of land ecosystems and 12% of marine ecosystems will be protected. This falls real short of the 30% target agreed in Montreal in 2022. Currently about 19% of land ecosystems are protected, up two percentage points from 2020. Only about 10% of the global ocean has some sort of protection. Coastal areas under national jurisdiction have done better, with 23% of this marine territory protected. Only about 1.5% of the deep ocean is under protection so far.

Implementation gap persists in national plans

Countries' biodiversity plans filed to reverse nature loss are insufficient to meet this decade's global targets. Less than half of country plans are on track. Only 89 national biodiversity strategies and action plans from 162 countries had been submitted by the cut-off date. Many of those lacking a plan are biodiversity-rich developing countries, which say they need financial and technical support to fully develop them. Some large nations pending a plan include South Africa, Bolivia and Russia.

The report shows that if countries meet all the targets in their existing plans, this would protect about 27% of the world's land and sea by 2030. That is a fivefold increase in the span of ten years. Countries could come close to meeting the 30% land protection target. Formalised Indigenous territories in several countries, large marine parks in French Polynesia, and rewilding initiatives in Kazakhstan including Caspian tiger reintroduction are positive steps. A target to strengthen the resilience of ecosystems to climate impacts is the only one with high relative progress.

Finance shortfalls and donor reluctance

Current funding levels are far below required amounts. Wealthy governments have yet to meet a target to provide $20bn per year in international public finance for nature protection by 2025, reaching only about $16bn annually from 2023 to 2025. By 2030, the Global Biodiversity Framework aims for developed countries to directly transfer $30bn per year, and mobilise $200bn from all sources. It also aims to switch an additional $500bn in support from damaging to beneficial activities.

Rich countries will arrive at COP17 with shrinking aid budgets and geopolitical preoccupations. A submission by African countries said the implementation gap has a shortfall in the provision of funds. Bridging it will require predictable and accessible finance. European countries have reduced funding despite committing to increase biodiversity finance to $30 billion annually. To close this gap, the EU made a proposal to expand the base of donors so that richer developing countries could voluntarily assume donor responsibilities.

A group of environmental NGOs has issued a call for governments to scale up ocean conservation and to designate $16 billion annually for marine protection measures, up from $1.8bn now. Pacific island nations launched a similar call, arguing there is a treaty obligation for developing countries to implement commitments depending on the finance and technology made available. UN Environment estimates that for every dollar spent protecting nature, $30 goes on destroying it.

Specific national actions illustrate the gap. The UK government has weakened biodiversity net-gain rules in England, reduced funding for rainforest protection as part of aid cuts, and rejected an outright ban on bottom trawling in marine protected areas. A fund intended to support companies using digital biodiversity data raised only $6,000. Natural England designated no new sites of special scientific interest since 2023. Eighty-nine countries were excluded from Darwin Initiative eligibility.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the war on nature has not yet ended. He stated that nature will not survive on good intentions. Governments will for the first time take stock of progress towards the Global Biodiversity Framework at COP17 in Yerevan and decide on policy guidelines for ramping up ambition before the 2030 deadline.