COP29 Launch Amid Funding Gap

• European governments, including Germany and the Netherlands, have reduced their foreign aid budgets, while France and the UK are also reducing their contributions.
• Wealthy nations have been unable to determine how they will mobilize $200 billion annually in conservation funding by 2030, including $30 billion from rich nations.
• The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreement, which was pledged two years ago, is meant to finance activities that boost nature, such as sustainable farming or wildlife reserves patrolling.
• The non-outcome of COP16 negotiations led to no consensus among nearly 200 nations, forcing the meeting to be suspended.
• Human activities like farming, mining, and urban development are putting nature into crisis, with one million plant and animal species at risk of extinction.
• The COP29 climate summit will focus on the need for funding from wealthy nations to help shoulder climate costs.
• Government development money specifically targeted at nature conservation abroad fell to $3.8 billion in 2022 compared to $4.6 billion in 2015.
• The United States, not a party to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, has not contributed to the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund.