Developed countries are ready to offer US$ 200 billion (about R$ 1 trillion) to finance the new global framework for biodiversity, under negotiation until the next 19th at the UN COP15. The announcement could be made this weekend, after the publication of the new draft of the agreement.
“This is not a number that popped out of our heads, as it was with the $100 billion [prometidos] in Copenhagen, but it comes out of the Paulson report: it’s the $900 billion minus subsidies that we want to work collectively to redirect,” said Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault during an informal meeting of the group of donor countries to which Sheet had access.
The meeting, outside the official COP15 agenda, brought together representatives of the developed bloc on Friday night (16), including the European Union, Australia, United Kingdom and Japan. The United States is not a party to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and does not participate in the COP.
There are still disagreements between countries about the timing of the announcement and also about the negotiation margin that should be calculated.
Some defended a less robust announcement, others prefer to see the proposal that will come out of the COP15 presidency and wait for the reactions, in the expectation that the countries will settle for a less ambitious financial proposal, saving the announcement of U$S 200 billion.
One of the representatives at the table recalled that the rich bloc is a minority: we are 15 here, they are 200, he said. The fear communicated in the speech is that the countries will continue to show discontent in the face of the rich bloc’s biggest card, which would make the situation irremediable. Therefore, some defended the alternative of waiting until Sunday to bring a solution to the table.
For other countries, however, waiting can waste time negotiating other items in the agreement. A negotiator from the bloc emphasized at the meeting that she would like to see this impasse resolved more quickly, leaving room to negotiate other items.
In the early hours of last Wednesday (14), all developing countries represented in a negotiation room on financing got up and left, led by Brazil, in protest against the lack of commitment of the rich countries with the financing of the biodiversity agreement .
During the meeting, one of the donor representatives stated that Brazil, in particular, has a blackmailing attitude towards the rich bloc. The negotiator also complained about the possibility of announcing financial commitments without receiving more ambitious goals in return.
“I spoke with all countries, and all, including Brazil, agree with the 30×30 target”, replied Guilbeault. The 30×30 target is the most popular point of the new global milestone. It establishes that the world must ensure the conservation of at least one third of biodiversity by 2030.
In preparatory meetings for the COP, Brazil questioned the global target and suggested that it be implemented nationally — in order to oblige each country to conserve 30% of its territories. The strategy would prevent a large part of the bill from being left over to the Brazilian territory, the most biodiverse in the world, which concentrates 15% to 20% of global biodiversity. However, the country started to defend a more generic text, without citing global or national implementation.
Another ghost that haunts donor countries is the lack of credibility. In 2009, during the UN Climate COP15, in Copenhagen, the bloc also sought to resolve the impasse in the climate negotiations with the promise of funding of US$ 100 billion by 2020, but the amount has not been reached until today.
Since then, rich countries have said that the goal must be achieved with resources from all sources, including public and private funds, from companies and philanthropic institutions.
At this Friday’s meeting, one of the negotiators suggested that the bloc make a clear announcement about what portion of the US$ 200 billion should be borne by the States that are announcing the commitment and, on the other hand, what amount they expect to raise from private funds to complete the promised amount. The speech did not reverberate in the room.
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