Lim Li Ching, Third World Network
At the heart of the resource mobilization discussions is the question of equity. Developing countries hold most of the world’s biodiversity, and bear the greatest burden of implementation. Article 20 is clear: there are common but differentiated responsibilities, with obligations on developed countries to provide financial resources to developing countries.
Additionally, as developed countries bear historical and continuing responsibility for global ecological breakdown, there is actually an ecological debt owed to developing countries and the Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women and youth who steward biodiversity.
The criteria for the institutional structure to operate the financial mechanism, which must be under the authority of the COP, must be rooted in equity. Any consideration of the contributor base must not negate the obligations of developed country Parties. There must also be a distinction of the provision of financial resources from developed countries, from resources mobilized from all other sources.
Those who protect biodiversity - Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women and youth – and their representative institutions, should be able to receive funding directly. Many on the frontlines unfairly bear the brunt of biodiversity destruction.
Equity also requires that the inequities perpetuated by the international economic and financial system be reversed. Firstly, funds disbursed from the institutional structure operating the financial mechanism should be grants and non-debt creating, so as not to increase the debt burden of developing countries.
Secondly, efforts to address impediments to the effectiveness of global biodiversity finance must include sovereign debt relief in developing countries so that resources can be channeled to biodiversity and development needs, rather than servicing debt, while ensuring that debt servicing doesn’t result in increased biodiversity extractivism. Developing countries face inequitable higher borrowing costs.
Efforts to protect biodiversity would be aided by equitable tax policies to reclaim lost revenues. Current global tax rules, set by the rich countries, are deeply unjust. Developing countries cannot adequately tax profits generated in their economies due to an unfair allocation of taxing rights and rampant tax abuses. Ongoing negotiations at the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation could help address these issues, and we urge cooperation and collaboration with this important process.
It is clear that there is an equity or justice gap in the resource mobilization agenda. This must be closed.