Meeting in Yerevan, Armenia, from 19 to 30 October for COP17 on biodiversity, the signatory countries to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity are set to assess their progress and discuss how to finance their commitments. The European Union and France want to expand the pool of contributors to include major emerging economies and Gulf countries, a proposal that is meeting with strong resistance.
COP17 is the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Adopted in 2022, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework sets 23 targets to be met by 2030.
For the European Commission, COP17 is an opportunity to take stock of implementation: the aim is to assess progress and, if necessary, call on countries to step up their efforts.
France hopes that this global stocktake will go beyond merely listing shortcomings. It wants the process to provide political momentum to nature conservation and ensure that decisions are more firmly grounded in scientific knowledge. But behind this assessment lies a difficult question that the negotiations are expected to highlight: who should fund global efforts to support biodiversity?
The Convention on Biological Diversity, adopted in 1992, stipulates that developed countries should finance measures taken by developing countries to protect nature. According to the office of French Minister of Ecological Transition Monique Barbut, however, the list of contributing countries has remained unchanged since 2006, even though economic realities have evolved.
France therefore wants to expand the contributor base. The proposal would affect major emerging countries, notably China and India, as well as Gulf countries. According to France, this is a matter of fairness and a way to increase available resources.
“There is no reason for countries in the Global North to be the only ones financing global efforts towards biodiversity”, the French ministry said on Tuesday 20 October. It acknowledges, however, that negotiations are difficult and that the countries in question are showing strong resistance. This debate is reminiscent of the one on broadening the contributor base in climate negotiations, discussions that ultimately did not reach a successful conclusion.
Specifically, France would like the Convention’s secretariat to be given a mandate to work on the list of contributors.
Four approaches are being considered: maintaining the secretariat’s voluntary invitations; using criteria based on World Bank income categories; stepping up consultations with the countries concerned; or postponing the decision pending further analysis.
Financial targets. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework aims to mobilise at least $200 billion per year for biodiversity by 2030, from all sources combined. It sets a target of at least $20 billion a year by 2025, rising to $30 billion by 2030, for international funding directed toward developing countries.
According to the French ministry, an OECD assessment puts identified public funding for 2024 at between $19 billion and $34 billion, depending on the calculation method used. France therefore considers that the $20 billion target has been met, or even exceeded, depending on the methodology applied. The Commission believes that global funding targets are likely not being fully met and expects countries to question the level of funding in light of the stated ambitions.
The disagreement concerns not only the amount of funding but also how to measure it and how to share responsibility for mobilising it.
The EU opposes the creation of a new biodiversity fund. For France, this is a red line. While this stance is intended to prevent a proliferation of structures, it arises within a debate where developing countries are calling for increased funding.
Established at COP16, the Cali Fund is intended to manage the sharing of benefits arising from digital sequence information on genetic resources. This is another sensitive issue at the conference.
The Commission aims to identify obstacles to implementing the Fund. France points out that the principle agreed in Cali was based on voluntary contributions from companies; at this stage, it does not support making them mandatory.
The EU and France also want to develop private funding, notably through ‘biodiversity credits’, but are approaching this with caution. The European Commission emphasises the need to avoid unreliable schemes and greenwashing.
COP17 is also set to examine subsidies and investments that harm biodiversity. France supports BIOFIN’s work in this area. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)