Global nature talks reach deal but money remains an issue

ByEsme Stallard Senior climate and science reporter.

Key points

• In 2022, they agreed they would put $30bn (£22.4bn) towards nature recovery efforts by the end of the decade, and mobilise a further $170bn from private sources.
• Countries have put 623 million acres (252m hectares) of degraded land into protection, external – an area bigger than Greenland.
• It was estimated up to $3.6bn could be raised annually – at the start of the session just $10, 000 had been pledged.
• "The attacks on science have bothered me a lot, " French Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut was documented as saying by the AFP news agency.
• "While not particularly exciting or detailed, it's good news that countries could reach agreement, " remarked Catherine Weller, from environmental charity Fauna & Flora.

In Armenia's capital this week a fight between politicians broke out – not the mass brawl in its parliament that was so widely documented on social media – but between delegates from almost 200 countries.

Notably, the world's nations have been gathered in Yerevan for almost two weeks negotiating, and arguing, over a new agreement on nature.

Early on Saturday morning, hours after discussions were due to finish, they finally agreed the key parts of a new action plan. "And that's it. Perfect, " remarked the gathering president, Hambardzum Matevosyan.

Four years earlier the same countries had signed a landmark accord committing to "halt and reverse" the decline of nature.

That global accord in 2022 – the Global Biodiversity Framework – contained 24 targets including putting 30% of the world's land and seas into protection by the end of the decade. They agreed that action was urgent.

Notably, the world is at present in a sixth mass extinction event with species becoming extinct at 100 times the natural rate as of human activities, scientists say.

But according to the UN this week, external the world is on track to achieve just one of those two dozen targets.

As part of this week's accord, countries acknowledged they were falling behind.

"We cannot just plod on to 2030 without a course correction; nature is critical to all life on Earth: to our economies, to our wellbeing, " she continued.

This was echoed by Craig Bennett, CEO of The Wildlife Trusts. This person informed BBC News: "We are still seeing an appalling loss, threatening the collapse of ecosystems globally. We run out of words really regarding how serious this is."

But he continued "the better news is there are so many examples worldwide about how. To turn things around".

Just last month the WWF praised conservation efforts which had achieved the recovery of key species including elephants, green sea turtles and tigers. Bluefin tuna comeback demonstrates nature can recover, states WWF.

Countries have recognised the main barrier to accelerating those efforts is funds.

But years afterwards numerous nations have been redirecting international aid to defence budgets and to accord with repeated energy shocks, such that pledges are not at the rate required to reach those targets, according to the UN., external.

At this session, more than $1bn was pledged, with half of that coming from philanthropists including Leonardo DiCaprio's Re: wild organisation.

Anna Ducros, a researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development, remarked there had been some progress on countries committing to reducing subsidies for industries harmful to the environment.

"A concrete example is that governments subsidise large-scale fishing that is especially harmful for nature – for example, trawling."

Ducros, who was in attendance at the discussions, went on: Right now, we have the situation where governments are paying twice.

"So they know that they need to increase spending on nature and climate, but at the same time, they're damaging nature."

For context, a specific funding pot, the Cali Fund, was previously set up for private firms that profit from using genetic material identified in the environment to donate to. It was estimated up to $3.6bn could be raised annually – at the start of the session just $10, 000 had been pledged.

Little progress was created on that problem – its voluntary nature makes it tough to put pressure on businesses, Bennett acknowledged.

"When you have countries that have rich biodiversity in them and you have companies trying to make money out of the genetic material found in those countries they should be paying those communities, " he remarked. "That should not be controversial."

One of the easier problems on the agenda was meant to be the approval of scientific reports into the state of nature.

But a small group of countries, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, were documented to have frustrated that process.

Next month countries will gather for the annual climate conference – COP31. Its own science body, the IPCC, has faced similar challenges previously month with passing its own scientific reports and securing funding.

"This is such a blatant political move.and the IPCC is no such place for such political manoeuvring since the outputs are in humanity's interest, " remarked Prof David Lee, from Manchester University. This person has worked on previous reports.

For now, global nature talks reach deal but money remains an issue remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.