Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, Sep 21, 2025

Developing nations demand more money at crunch UN biodiversity talks

Developing nations demand more money at crunch UN biodiversity talks

The thorny issue of how much money wealthy countries are willing to pony up to protect the world’s remaining biodiversity took center stage Wednesday at UN talks in Montreal aimed at creating a “peace pact with nature.”
At stake is the future of the planet and whether humanity can roll back habitat destruction, pollution, and the climate crisis that are driving the sixth mass extinction of plant and animal species.

Negotiators worked late into the night Tuesday, but “the atmosphere deteriorated when the group started discussing concepts, in particular the global biodiversity fund (GBF) proposal,” said UN spokesman David Ainsworth, leading to a walkout by developing nations.

The GBF is a new financial instrument sought by low-income nations to help them, for example, establish marine or terrestrial protected areas and implement biodiversity action plans.

A long pause in technical talks on other items appeared to be resolved after China, the chair, held an hours-long meeting of the heads of delegations Wednesday, though the finance issue isn’t yet settled.

“Our territories are home to most of the biological diversity of the world,” said a statement by Brazil, which added existing financing mechanisms were not up to the task.

Brazil, which also spoke on behalf of other developing countries, including the African Group, added that the new fund should provide $100 billion annually, or one percent of global GDP, until 2030.

Financial flows from the Global North to South are currently estimated at around $10 billion annually.

Wealthy nations say they would rather reform existing financial mechanisms and leverage more private sector funding.

The deterioration in dialogue came on the eve of the high-level phase of negotiations involving the environment ministers of the 196 members at the Montreal summit, called COP15, which began on December 7 and is set to run to December 19.

“The walkout that happened last night is a signal of a pivotal moment in the negotiations that we needed,” Masha Kalinina of The Pew Charitable Trusts told AFP.

“It draws important attention to this negotiation, especially as the leaders are arriving today and tomorrow we are waiting with bated breath.”

Innocent Maloba of WWF International added: “As the countries with the greatest roles in driving biodiversity loss... developed countries have a duty to support developing countries in the protection and conservation of the biodiversity that we all rely on.

“It is in their own self-interest.”

There are more than 20 targets, including a cornerstone pledge to protect 30 percent of the world’s land and seas by 2030, eliminating harmful fishing and agriculture subsidies, and tackling invasive species and reducing pesticides.

Science shows that time is running out.

An estimated million species are threatened with extinction, a third of the world’s landmass is degraded, comprising the productivity of soil, while pollution and the climate crisis are destroying marine ecosystems.

But the summit has failed to garner the same level attention as a UN climate summit held in Egypt in November, which brought together more than a hundred world leaders.

The meeting is being held in Canada but chaired by China, which declined to host because of its strict Covid rules.

The only world leader in attendance is Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Speaking at a press conference organized by the nonprofit Avaaz, Hollywood actor and activist James Cromwell singled out French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron in particular, for opting to visit Qatar to watch the soccer World Cup semi final instead of coming to the COP.

“It’s tragic that it takes an actor to come up here to talk about issues,” he said. “Have you no shame?”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
EU Set to Bar Big Tech from New Financial Data Access Scheme
China Bans Livestreaming and AI in Religion Amid Crackdown on Shaolin Temple Scandal
Documents Reveal Mandelson Failed to Declare Epstein-Funded Flights as MP in 2003
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Harris Memoir Sparks Backlash from Democrats for Blunt Critiques in ‘107 Days’
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Japan’s ‘Death-Tainted’ Homes Gain Appeal as Prices Soar in Tokyo
Massive Attack Withdraws from Spotify Over Daniel Ek’s €600M Defence-AI Investment
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders Third Lethal Strike on Drug-Trafficking Vessel as U.S. Expands Maritime Counter-Narcotics Operations
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
Why Google Search Is Fading and AI Is Taking Its Place
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Federal Judge Dismisses Trump’s Fifteen-Billion-Dollar Suit Against New York Times, Orders Refile
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
DeepSeek Claims R1 Model Trained for only $294,000, Sparking Global Debate Over China’s AI Capabilities
SoftBank Vision Fund to Cut Nearly Twenty Percent of Staff in Bold AI Strategy Shift
Intel’s Next-Gen Manufacturing Gets a Lifeline from Nvidia’s Strategic $5B Deal
Erika Kirk Elected CEO of Turning Point USA After Husband Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
×