Financial Mechanisms in the CBD: Opening the Doors to More Privatization of Biodiversity

The statement criticizes the CBD's adoption of market-based financial mechanisms, which the author claims lead to the 'Financialization of Nature' and the privatization of biodiversity. It argues that these 'innovative' tools, such as biodiversity offsets and payments for environmental services, allow polluting companies to avoid legal sanctions and perpetuate the environmental crisis. The author advocates instead for community-led governance, food sovereignty, and the enforcement of historical obligations by industrialized nations to fund conservation.

• The CBD's embrace of the 'green economy' is viewed as a way to legitimize existing power dynamics and corporate control by treating nature as 'natural capital' and creating new business opportunities through environmental and social criteria.
• The CBD promotes 'innovative' financial mechanisms—including environmental fiscal reform, payment for environmental services, biodiversity offsets, and tradable permits—which the author asserts accelerate biodiversity loss by benefiting the companies responsible for the destruction.
• The 'Financialization of Nature' (FN) uses economic pricing to privatize nature and the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, effectively replacing legal sanctions with payments for environmental damage.
• The author identifies specific mechanisms and initiatives within the CBD framework that facilitate the pricing of nature, including REDD, the Biofin Initiative, and the integration of biodiversity into national accounting systems.
• Real solutions to the biodiversity and climate crises are found in community forest governance, food sovereignty, and the protection of land rights for small-scale farmers and Indigenous Peoples, rather than market-based financial tools.

APA

Rojas, I. (2016). Financial Mechanisms in the CBD: Opening the Doors to More Privatization of Biodiversity. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/financial-mechanisms-in-the-cbd-opening-the-doors-to-more-privatization-of-biodiversity/

Chicago

Rojas, Isaac. Financial Mechanisms in the CBD: Opening the Doors to More Privatization of Biodiversity. Friends of the Earth International, 2016. https://www.foei.org/financial-mechanisms-in-the-cbd-opening-the-doors-to-more-privatization-of-biodiversity/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Rojas |first1=Isaac |title=Financial Mechanisms in the CBD: Opening the Doors to More Privatization of Biodiversity |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=6 December 2016 |url=https://www.foei.org/financial-mechanisms-in-the-cbd-opening-the-doors-to-more-privatization-of-biodiversity/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{rojas2016financial, author = {Rojas, Isaac}, title = {{Financial Mechanisms in the CBD: Opening the Doors to More Privatization of Biodiversity}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2016}, month = dec, url = {https://www.foei.org/financial-mechanisms-in-the-cbd-opening-the-doors-to-more-privatization-of-biodiversity/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }