Theiva Lingam, Friends of the Earth Malaysia & Lim Li Lin, Third World Network
Turning the KMGBF into real action on biodiversity loss requires confronting power, not just counting targets
The Global Review of the KMGBF has laid bare a simple truth: we are dangerously off track to meet the 2030 goals, and the current approach to review and implementation is nowhere near what justice demands. The support flowing from developed to developing countries remains far below what is needed, while the structural drivers of biodiversity destruction are largely left untouched. Without confronting these realities, “transformative change” becomes little more than a slogan.
Biodiversity loss is an outcome of the current dominant economic and development model that puts corporate profit above people and planet. The manifestation of this system include corporate capture, crushing sovereign debt, austerity measures, and tax injustices. These are not peripheral—they are at the heart of why implementation stalls. Developing countries hold most of the world’s biodiversity and carry the heaviest burden of action, yet developed countries bear overwhelming historical and ongoing responsibility for ecological breakdown. Any credible Global Review must start from this imbalance in responsibility, capacity, and power.
To avoid repeating the failure of the Aichi Targets, the Global Review must move from informal, ad hoc processes to a formal mechanism with clear timelines, modalities, and monitoring. It must be genuinely participatory, with full and effective involvement of Parties, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, women and girls, children and youth, and persons with disabilities. Regular, regionally balanced dialogues should be spaces to expose systemic barriers and challenge structural drivers, not just polite consultations. Their outcomes must directly reshape NBSAPs and national targets and trigger a real scaling‑up of means of implementation.
Equitable implementation of the KMGBF means developed countries must finally meet their obligations: delivering adequate, and accessible finance, technology, and capacity-building to developing countries. It is neither fair nor realistic to demand ambitious biodiversity outcomes from countries squeezed by debt and austerity while corporate interests remain protected. If governments are genuinely committed to halting and reversing biodiversity loss, they must confront the political and economic structures that make implementation unattainable for many. Without addressing these structural and systemic barriers, the KMGBF risks becoming a mechanism for documenting failure rather than driving real change.