A global goal to protect 30% of the planet’s land and sea ecosystems by 2030 is at risk of falling off track due to a decline in international finance, a new report has found, which leaves developing countries with a $3 billion funding gap.

The target known as “30×30” was adopted at UN biodiversity talks in 2022, and aims to protect nature and cut emissions by increasing protected areas across the world. Experts estimate this can contribute to slash at least 10 gigatonnes of carbon emissions annually.

To achieve this target and as part of the landmark Kunming-Montreal biodiversity pact, developed countries agreed to mobilise $20 billion directly to developing countries by 2025. About a fifth of this funding is estimated to reach protected areas, which means that developing countries should receive $4 billion by 2025 for this purpose. By 2030, this figure should reach $6bn.

But a new report by Indufor – a forest intelligence group supported by nature NGOs – found that developed countries only delivered $1 billion in 2024 for protected areas, falling $3 billion short of the 2025 target. 

Last year also marked the first year-on-year decline in funding for protected areas after a post-pandemic growth, the report shows.

$3bn funding gap 

The report shows there has been an increase in support for protected areas in developing countries, which has grown by more than 150 percent in the last decade. After the pandemic, philanthropic funding drove most of the growth, rising by more than 70 percent during this period.

These funds are meant to pay for establishing new protected areas, providing capacity to park rangers, and supporting Indigenous groups and local communities, among other initiatives.

However, the current rate of increase is too slow to reach the $6 billion by 2030 target, the report says. To achieve this, international funding must grow by about 33 percent each year between now and 2030, since at the current pace developing countries would only receive $2bn by 2030.

The drop in 30×30 funding in 2024 could be driven by a reporting lag by philanthropies, the report says, as some grants are coming to an end after the growth in post-pandemic contributions and could be renewed. However, the reports also warns that cuts to US foreign aid could further reduce the available finance in 2025.

Small islands underfunded

So far, Africa has received the most finance with about half of the overall funding reaching the continent in 2024, while small island developing states remained severely underfunded by international flows.

Safiya Sawney, Grenada’s Climate Ambassador, said at the report launch on the sidelines of the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi that the funding coming to the Caribbean is not enough. She added that “we’ve heard from the report that there has been scaled up philanthropic financing, I can tell you that it’s not reaching my region, it’s not reaching my country”. 

Jiwoh Abdulai, Sierra Leone’s minister of environment and climate change, also told the event that developed countries should step up finance, warning that the cost of inaction will be higher. “The best time to put out a fire is when it is in your neighbour’s house before it gets to yours,” he added.

Earlier modelling by Campaign for Nature in 2020 suggested that expanding and managing the world’s protected areas would require an average investment of at least $140 billion per year globally by 2030, funded through a mix of domestic and international sources. Already, the $6bn target falls significantly short of this figure.

Abdulai said that besides the funding gap, there is also an accessibility problem. Countries ask for funds and it comes five years later, making “the money not even close to enough to solve the problem” as the funding needs tend to grow after the initial request.

He said developed countries need to fulfil their pledges because “if the funding is not coming then we are not addressing the problem and if we are not addressing the problems today in the frontline countries, tomorrow the frontline will move from our countries to yours”, he added.

US retreat sounds alarm

The report also shows that the funding for protected areas has come mostly from a few sources. Since 2022, just Germany, the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the European Union, and the United States, provided more than half of all international finance for the 30×30 goal.

“There is a real risk or a significant vulnerability if even one major donor were to pull back,” said Michael Owen, one of the authors of the report. He warned that this leaves global biodiversity protection vulnerable to political transitions, at a time of rising geopolitical tensions, which could trigger sudden changes in funding or even retrenchment. 

The report notes that “the shuttering of USAID leaves a significant gap to be filled, as it has been the sixth largest international 30×30 funder making up nearly 5% of total flows”.

With just five years left to meet the 30×30 target, Brian O’Donnell, director of Campaign for Nature, said there is “a clear need to ramp up marine conservation finance”, especially to small island states. He added that meeting the 30×30 target “is essential to prevent extinctions, achieve climate goals, and ensure the services that nature provides endure, including storm protection and clean air and water.”

Anders Haug Larsen, advocacy director at Rainforest Foundation Norway, said the world is currently far off track, both in mobilizing resources and protecting nature.

“We now have a short window of opportunity, where governments, donors, and actors on the ground, including Indigenous Peoples and local communities, need to work together to enhance finance and actions for rights-based nature protection,” Larsen added.

The post Funding for protected areas fell in 2024, threatening global nature target appeared first on Climate Home News.

Funding for protected areas fell in 2024, threatening global nature target