UN General Assembly 2023: Crucial biodiversity fund gets enough money to be operational

Subject: Environment

Section: International Convention

Context:

At a high-level event, Nature and People: From Ambition to Action, at the ongoing 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the government of Germany pledged to contribute 40 million euros to the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF).

Key outcomes of the high-level event:

The GBFF was ratified in August at the Global Environment Facility Assembly but needed $200 million from at least three donors by December 2023 to be operational.
At the Assembly, Canada committed 200 million Canadian dollars and the United Kingdom committed 10 million GBP and now $40 million is contributed by Germany. Thus the GBFF will become operational.
Germany’s contribution was made through its International Climate Initiative.
- Under Target 3, the world has to protect and conserve 30 per cent of land and ocean by 2030 (known as 30×30 target).

Contributions to fulfill 30×30 target of GBF:

The new contributions for fulfillment of target 3 includes: the pledge by New Caledonia to strictly protect 10 percent of its maritime space by the end of the year.
An additional 114,900 hectares of marine ecosystems across Comoros, St Lucia and Vanuatu would be restored under the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Ecosystem Restoration Flagship project announced at the high-level event.
An indigenous-led finance mechanism, Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative (CLARIFI), received funds — 5 million euros — from German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to boost the role of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLC) in decision-making on nature conservation.
- IPLCs manage over at least 43.5 million square kilometres (32 per cent of global land) in 87 countries but less than 1 percent of funding for climate and biodiversity protection actually reaches them.

Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative (CLARIFI):

CLARIFI is a new international funding mechanism led by RRI and Campaign for Nature.
It aims to contribute to raising US$10 billion by 2030 and strategically deploying public and private funds to scale up the formal recognition of Indigenous Peoples’, Afro-descendant Peoples’, and local communities’ land rights, conservation, and sustainable management of their territories.
It will contribute to raising USD $10 billion between now and 2030 to achieve the following goals:
- Help protect at least 30% of the planet by 2030 by adding 400 million hectares to Indigenous Peoples’, Afro-descendant Peoples’, and local communities’ legally recognized territories.
- Reduce deforestation to help reach the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.
- Increase these communities’ legal land ownership to at least 50% of all tropical forests.