Tom Picken, RAN
First, some facts:
-
The world’s biodiversity needs protecting,
but destruction is still accelerating; -
Developing countries host most biodiversity
but are least able to afford its protection; -
The global extractivist resource economy is thriving, driving the destruction of nature;
-
IPLCs protecting land and forests are facing
increased violence and murder; -
The financial sector is effectively free to fund
destructive activities with impunity.
While resource mobilization and reforms to the financial mechanism of the GBF are critical, so too is the need to stop big business and banks from writing COP16 decision text. The decisions reached here in Cali are supposed to deliver on the objectives of the GBF. It is not supposed to be a business opportunity to perpetuate financial sector impunity from biodiversity destruction and related human rights abuses.
All parties to the Convention have an obligation to negotiate in good faith for the benefit and security of humanity and the ecosystems on which we depend. Parties must not betray us by advancing the interests of big business at the expense of nature and people.
A 3-point common-sense appeal to guide negotiations on biodiversity and finance
- Recognise and engage in good faith the need to significantly increase the mobilization of public sources of finance for the realization of GBF goals. Consider equity and ambition as Parties address the proposals and needs of developing countries, Indigenous Peoples and local communities. This must include appropriate consideration for the establishment of a dedicated Global Biodiversity Fund that better represents these needs.
- Require central banks, financial regulators and supervisors to fully incorporate biodiversity and human rights into their mandate, including outcome-oriented policies in line with the goals of the GBF. This is critical to shift the real-world economy away from biodiversity destruction and towards regenerative, community-centered solutions. Conversely, international biodiversity credit and offset markets should have no place in the achievement of GBF goals. These are merely gifts to the private sector which delay and distract from real solutions.
- Strike out references to flawed initiatives that have been developed by corporations, for corporations. Specifically, there is no place for the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) in the COP16 decision text. The TNFD is neither compatible with the goals and targets of the GBF nor with the principles of UN participation, having been devised by a decision-making body composed solely of 40 global corporations. There already exist more comprehensive and effective financial sector disclosure standards, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
We urge Parties to step up to these challenges and fulfill your obligations under the CBD and GBF. We also ask you to give less credence to those industries and lobbies profiting from biodiversity destruction while purporting to know how best to protect it.