China pledges equivalent of 201 million euros for new biodiversity fund


Establishment of new funding pot for developing countries controversial

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China has announced a contribution of 1.5 billion yuan (201 million euros) to a new fund for biodiversity conservation in developing countries. “China will take the lead in setting up the Kunming Biodiversity Fund,” President Xi Jinping said in a speech to the UN Conference on Biological Diversity on Tuesday. He called on all participants to also contribute to the fund.

A UN report in May said global spending on conservation and restoration must triple this decade to prevent mass species extinctions. But some richer countries oppose the creation of a new fund for this purpose. They argue that there is already a UN initiative for conservation in developing countries that helps fund green projects.

The World Biodiversity Conference had kicked off in Kunming, China, on Monday. Because of the Corona pandemic, an initial political part of the conference will be held largely virtually over a week. A face-to-face event next year will then aim to agree a global biodiversity agreement with targets by 2030 – similar to the 2015 Paris climate change agreement.

Expert-level talks are ongoing throughout the winter. The issue of funding will be addressed at negotiations in Geneva in January and later at the second official part of the conference in April and May.

A draft global agreement so far calls for countries to commit to “living in harmony with nature” by 2050. To that end, 21 “targets for urgent action” are set out. For example, 30 percent of land and marine areas are to be placed under protection by 2030, and spending on species conservation is to rise to the equivalent of 173 billion euros a year within a decade.

In his speech, China’s president also took a side swipe at the United States, which is among the handful of countries that have not signed the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. “We should practice genuine multilateralism and abide by international rules, which should not be exploited or discarded at our own whim,” Xi said.

by STR

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