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For every dollar allocated to nature conservation, around US$30 is directed towards activities that harm it.
Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said this while stressing the importance of reducing harmful subsidies.
“We cannot protect nature on the one hand while spending money to destroy it on the other. Many of you have probably seen the figures: for every dollar directed towards nature conservation, US$30 is spent on destroying or damaging it,” Schomaker stressed.
She cited 2023 data showing that financial flows towards activities harmful to nature totalled approximately US$7.3 trillion. Most of this funding came from the private sector, although harmful public subsidies also played a significant role.
The relevant UN Environment Programme report attributes US$4.9 trillion of these flows to private sources and US$2.4 trillion to environmentally harmful public subsidies.
Schomaker recalled the target of reducing harmful subsidies by US$500 billion annually by 2030. She also addressed the commitment to identify such subsidies by 2025, noting that gaps in this area were reflected in the progress report.
Target 18 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework calls for harmful incentives, including subsidies, to be eliminated, phased out or reformed, reducing them by at least US$500 billion annually by 2030.
The Convention’s Executive Secretary said it was important for the conference to establish a shared recognition of the problem, ensure accountability and discuss practical ways forward.