COP16.2: We need System Change for Just Biodiversity Finance

The document critiques the current financial mechanisms of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, highlighting how the Global Environment Facility and private finance models perpetuate biodiversity loss. It identifies the role of banks in funding extractive industries and the 'predatory debt' cycles that force developing nations into nature-destroying exports. The author rejects biodiversity offsets and green bonds as 'false solutions' and calls for direct funding mechanisms for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs).

• The current financial mechanisms for developing countries are described as 'deeply unjust' because the Global Environment Facility prioritizes countries capable of providing large amounts of co-funding, which prevents many needy countries from accessing resources.
• Private financial institutions are major drivers of nature loss; since 2015, banks provided over US$395 billion in credit to extractive industries in deforestation-vulnerable regions, including beef, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber, soy, and timber.
• Developing nations are trapped in economic dependencies on biodiversity-degrading exports due to high debt levels and pressure from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to prioritize destructive sectors over environmental regulations, with specific examples cited in Argentina (soy) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (mineral mining).
• The document characterizes biodiversity offsets, credits, and green bonds as 'false solutions' or 'perverse' because offsets stem from destruction elsewhere, and green bonds—which reached approximately US$1 trillion in 2024—carry a high risk of greenwashing.
• Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) are identified as the most effective at biodiversity conservation but receive the least financial support, necessitating the creation of mechanisms for direct funding allocation.

APA

FOEIAdmin (2025). COP16.2: We need System Change for Just Biodiversity Finance. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/cop16-2-we-need-system-change-just-biodiversity-finance/

Chicago

FOEIAdmin. COP16.2: We need System Change for Just Biodiversity Finance. Friends of the Earth International, 2025. https://www.foei.org/cop16-2-we-need-system-change-just-biodiversity-finance/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=FOEIAdmin |title=COP16.2: We need System Change for Just Biodiversity Finance |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=26 February 2025 |url=https://www.foei.org/cop16-2-we-need-system-change-just-biodiversity-finance/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{foeiadmin2025cop162, author = {FOEIAdmin}, title = {{COP16.2: We need System Change for Just Biodiversity Finance}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2025}, month = feb, url = {https://www.foei.org/cop16-2-we-need-system-change-just-biodiversity-finance/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }