Debt swaps, carbon credits, biodiversity credits, taxonomies, and guarantees from multilateral institutions are among the key smart financing measures that will support the ambitious Global Biodiversity Alliance recently formed here in Guyana.
Countries and organisations that have committed to reversing biodiversity loss by 2030 will face the uphill task of securing finance to tackle the ongoing biodiversity crisis, as well as ensuring appropriate compensation for efforts toward the sustenance of the global environment.
Former President of the Republic of Colombia, Iván Duque Márquez, insisted that the right financial instruments are necessary to ensure comprehensive action toward the ecosystem.
“We are completely sure that this global biodiversity alliance is saying to (put in place) practical elements for action which involves market driven nature based solutions. Today, the world is facing enormous amounts of debt so governments don’t regularly have the fiscal space and in other times would allow them budgetary resources to be allocated.”
Márquez added that bilateral donors have also changed their priorities, adding to the liquidity deficit needed to meet biodiversity objectives. He noted, therefore, that finance must come from the market, and to rapidly mobilise resources, the alliance should focus on those smart financing measures which he believes will allow the alliance to meet its objectives ahead of the designated timeframe.
María José Pinto, Vice President of the Republic of Ecuador, highlighted how her country was able to use debt swapping to secure finance:
“We executed the largest debt to nature swap in global history; achieving more than more than $500M reduction in public debt stock and $800m in debt services savings through 2035 to protect our rainforest. This will generate $400m for conservation, forest governance and local livelihood in the Ecuadorian Amazon. We secured 50 years of funding for Yasuni National Park, one of the world’s most prestigious biodiversity sanctuaries,” the VP said.
She noted that this achievement ensures the protection of the nation’s biodiversity for generations to come and beyond political cycles.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley recognised the importance of continued biodiversity advocacy for Caribbean countries and those in the Pacific. She noted that it has been these countries that are in the serious fight to protect the global environment, knowing that they suffer tremendously from climate change and other environmental mishaps.
She said the ongoing biodiversity conversations are not academic. “They are real. And they will determine what kind of livelihoods our people will have, they will determine what percentage of our national budget must go to recovering from climate crisis and biodiversity loss, they will determine what national economic and social stability our countries can maintain.”
Mottley urged that even as countries seek financing to meet their conservation and sustenance agenda, they are obligated to help themselves. She said Barbados has just changed its catastrophe fund to a resilience regeneration fund where, among other things, every employed and self-employed person in Barbados is required to contribute a quarter of one per cent of their gross earnings with no cap.
