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Info Service on Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge (Dec22/01) CBD: Developing countries in show of unity, call for new biodiversity fund Montreal, 12 December (Lim Li Lin and Lim Li Ching) - Developing countries have, at the on-going meetings of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), strongly coalesced around the issue of a new global biodiversity fund and the provision of increased financial resources for the implementation of biodiversity action.
Most attention at COP-15 is on the negotiations of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which aims to set out the priorities for action to 2030. Prior to these meetings, the Open-ended Working Group on the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (OEWG) met from 3 to 5 December, which was the fifth time in the four years since it was set up in 2018. Negotiations in Montreal have been extremely intense and complex, with Parties still remaining very far apart on many issues. Some of the major sticking points, which are interlinked, include that on digital sequence information on genetic resources (DSI), and on resource mobilization. Others relate to the specific goals and targets of the GBF, which have seen negotiation text balloon with numerous square brackets (indicating lack of consensus). There are stark North - South divisions on more onerous obligations and the provision of financial resources. On the one hand, a lot is being asked from developing country Parties that hold most of the world’s biodiversity, to meet the goals and targets of the GBF, which as yet do not adequately address the root causes of biodiversity loss and degradation, such as overconsumption in the rich world. They will also be held accountable for these actions through the monitoring framework of the GBF and the monitoring, reporting and review mechanisms. On the other hand, developed country Parties, which have unmet legally binding commitments under Article 20 of the Convention to provide new and additional financial resources to enable developing country Parties to meet their obligations for implementation, have been denying any language on equity and common but differentiated responsibilities. At the stock taking plenary session on Saturday, 10 December, the delegate from Brazil, speaking on behalf of the like-minded group of developing countries on biodiversity and development, which includes the African Group, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Paraguay, the Philippines, and Venezuela, made a statement on the issue of resource mobilization for biodiversity. Honduras also associated itself with the statement. [The like-minded group first came together as a group at the resumed OEWG-3 meeting in Geneva in March 2022. It called on developed country Parties to commit to a goal of mobilizing and providing at least USD100 billion annually initially, under the relevant target of the GBF, as well as for the establishment of a new global biodiversity fund to support the implementation of the GBF. See “Fraught negotiations at resumed in-person CBD meetings’, SUNS #9550.] Brazil said that when COP-15 agrees on an ambitious GBF, the like-minded group will bear a higher burden than others in implementing it, as their territories are home to most of the biological diversity of the world. As such, the adoption of the GBF must be accompanied by approval of a commensurately robust package on resource mobilization. “In line with the principle of equity, [the GBF] should ensure the provision of predictable, measurable, new, additional, and adequate financial resources from developed countries to developing ones. It should also ensure accessibility and proper monitoring of the financial commitments and pledges. Only a framework with clear targets and an architecture for resource mobilization and access can be considered an ambitious framework,” he said. He insisted that the Rio Principles are as relevant as ever, and urged for the same spirit of solidarity and cooperation. Brazil said that the implementation of the GBF will require additional funds from all sources, and that the issue of DSI has a role to play in this regard. At the same time, the resources mobilized from the private sector cannot be conflated with the legal obligations of developed countries under the CBD to provide financial resources, it said. [At OEWG-4 in June 2022, Brazil on behalf of the group of like-minded developing country Parties had proposed that the GBF target on financial resources make a clear distinction at two levels - the first, where all Parties mobilize resources from a variety of sources, and the second, which elaborates on the responsibility of developed country Parties to provide financial resources to developing country Parties, in accordance with Article 20 of the CBD. See “Stark North-South divisions in resource mobilization discussions”, SUNS #9609.] Brazil called for the establishment of a funding mechanism that is dedicated to biodiversity and described it as a “second generation fund”, in the sense that it would draw on lessons learned from existing funds, and that developing countries would have timely, direct and needs-based access to it. According to Brazil, this would fulfill the CBD’s mandate and complement the resource mobilization landscape. It would also emulate the recent historic establishment of a loss and damage fund at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP-27. It urged COP-15 to establish a new biodiversity fund and set up a process to detail its modalities and structure, and to conclude this work by COP-16, in two years. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) would continue to fulfill its financing role, including for biodiversity, it said, and that it will remain necessary to address the issues of efficiency, access and scale in the GEF and other existing multilateral financial institutions, including to ensure that they are responsive to the GBF. Brazil stressed that the scale of resources that will be required to implement the GBF makes it clear that the existing multilateral sources are not up to this task, and that it is crucial to include a clear figure under target 19.1 of the GBF on financial resources. It recalled that the group has proposed that developed countries commit to mobilize and jointly provide financial grants of at least USD 100 billion annually or 1% of global GDP until 2030, an amount to be revised for the period 2030–2050. These resources should be new and additional to those already being provided under other multilateral environmental agreements. Brazil stressed that the mechanism for reporting, review, and planning must include modalities for the reporting by all countries on the biodiversity finance and other support that they are committing, including reporting by developed countries on what they have provided to developing countries. Such information should also be considered integral to the review of progress in the GBF negotiations, to provide a greater level of transparency and enable developing countries to assess whether their implementation needs will be met, it said. For this COP to be a success, solidarity and equity should be overarching principles in our work. Decisions on adequate and accessible resource mobilization must be central to the package of outcomes to be adopted, along with the long overdue acknowledgement that DSI is covered by the access and benefit-sharing provisions of the CBD, Brazil said. Argentina, on behalf of the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), who took the floor earlier, said that developing countries expected developed countries to reciprocate their goodwill demonstrated in the negotiations on monitoring, reporting and review which are important to developed country Parties, with tangible outcomes on DSI and resource mobilisation, which are important to developing country Parties. As such, it emphasised that these issues should be prioritised before the High-Level Segment of Ministers, with a clear outline of the resource mobilization decision and a clear proposal for a global solution on DSI as landing zones in order to unlock an ambitious GBF. The European Union (EU) instead stressed on the need to focus on all elements with the same level of priority. Colombia on behalf of Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru, said that there is not a singular response to the complex challenges regarding the provision of financial resources, that a robust package is required from all sources, and all Parties must allocate resources, but that this would still be insufficient. Colombia stressed on the importance of biodiversity mainstreaming in all sectors, the efficient use of resources, progress on eliminating harmful incentives and subsidies in line with existing multilateral rules, and the provision of positive incentives, among others. It also urged for reform of the GEF including for joint and active work with multilateral development banks and international financial institutions and a fund under the GEF dedicated solely to the CBD. In addition, Colombia urged for more flexibility and for Parties to reach compromise solutions. New Zealand, for Japan, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (JUSSCANNZ) expressed that their focus is on working towards headline indicators in the monitoring framework, and on the monitoring, reporting and review mechanisms. It stressed on access to resources for the poorest and those who need most support, adding that “all those with capacity” must provide support. While a number of agenda items under the Convention and its Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols moved quickly at the plenary with some final documents adopted, the negotiations of the GBF itself then continued in a Contact Group late into the night on Saturday. Most of the work of the COP and the COP-MOPs have been accelerated in order to prioritise the negotiations of the GBF. The negotiations in the week ahead will be long and grueling, with many square brackets still unresolved and little progress on the draft of the GBF. Upon the completion of the High Level Ministerial Segment scheduled for 15-17 December, a plenary session will be held to again take stock. How the GBF is negotiated in the final phase may also have serious ramifications. According to the proposed organization of work for COP-15, China, as the COP-15 President “may designate Ministers to assist him in facilitating negotiations among Parties on the most important issues still to be resolved. Matters requiring higher level political engagement may be facilitated by Ministers (and other heads of delegations) acting under the authority of the COP President.” The pressure to conclude text-based negotiations before then, and to deliver a final outcome on 19 December when COP-15 is scheduled to end, has never been greater. Concerns have been raised that the process must remain inclusive, democratic and transparent in order to avoid the same mistakes in the UNFCCC where the “Copenhagen Accord” was negotiated by a small exclusive group of selected heads of State, and presented to the final plenary for adoption. Due to the highly contentious process the Copenhagen Accord was eventually only “taken note of” by the Parties. In addition, the proposed organization of work for COP-15 states, “The President, Chairs of the working groups and the Secretariat will ensure that all final texts are brought back to either the working groups or plenary to ensure transparency.” +
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