•However, the delegates are expected to reconvene and continue with the discussions.
•The money would be directed to conservation projects in developing countries such as Kenya, where much of the biodiversity remains.
Image: REUTERS
Developing countries have walked out of the ongoing United Nations talks on biodiversity after rich nations said they will not support the immediate creation of a new fund for nature.
Brazil and some African countries had proposed the meeting create a new fund to help conserve biodiversity.
The money would be directed to projects in developing countries such as Kenya, where much of the biodiversity remains.
“Rich nations led by the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada and Norway said they are open to discussing the creation of a new fund, but the decision cannot be made until 2024 [when the next conference of parties will be held in Turkey],” one delegate told The Star.
The rich nations and some developing countries favour increasing financing through existing mechanisms such as the Global Environment Fund.
GEF has so far spent Sh16.2 billion on 48 projects in Kenya, according to information on its website.
David Ainsworth, a spokesman for the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, confirmed the countries abandoned the talks at around 1.30am on Wednesday morning.
"The issue that seems to have precipitated the walkout was a discussion on creation of a new fund for biodiversity," he told journalists.
However, the delegates are expected to reconvene and continue with the discussions.
On Tuesday, Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said he does not support a new fund because its structures would take time to be agreed upon, delaying the much-needed finance to developing nations.
Attention at the conference, taking place in Montreal, is currently focused on preserving 30 per cent of the world's lands and oceans by 2030.
The nations agree achieving this goal requires new financing but their delegates have not agreed on the amount, and how the money will be raised and channelled.
Currently, $154 billion is spent every year, mainly by governments, on actions to protect and better manage waters, land, air and wildlife, known as "nature-based solutions," Unep said in its State of Finance for Nature 2022 report released on December 1.
The report proposed that the money should be doubled to $384 billion a year by 2025, to guard against the threats of climate change and loss of natural resources.
Francis Ogwal of Uganda’s National Environment Management Authority, who is co-chair of one of the working groups attempting to reach a deal in Montreal, also confirmed the Wednesday walkout.
He said nations were keen to agree on financing because creating conservation targets without agreeing on costs is not useful.
"This time around we said the framework should be a package. It should all be done at the same time," he said.
Kenya is one of the 197 parties that have ratified the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) treaty, which aims to address such problems and the threats to the survival of species and ecosystems around the world.
Countries – known as parties – are meeting in Montreal, Canada, hoping to agree on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (already two years delayed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic) to halt the loss of species and ecosystems by 2030 and “live in harmony” with nature by 2050.
Until December 19, negotiators from around the world will debate the finer details of 22 Targets in the Framework. They include directives for countries to address the many causes of biodiversity loss, such as habitat destruction and the introduction of invasive species.
This story was produced as part of the 2022 CBD COP15 Fellowship organised by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.