Experts call for 'loss and damage' fund for nature in developing world https://t.co/idKrxjXl3v
- The Guardian (@guardian) May 29, 2023
In climate talks COP7 Last November, world leaders agreed on a dedicated “loss and damage” fund that provides financial assistance to poor nations hit by climate disasters.
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More developed countries, which are primarily responsible for climate breakdown, must pay compensation to poorer countries, which are typically more vulnerable to its impacts.
Now researchers are arguing that a similar fund should be created for the loss of nature. This is because habitat loss and overexploitation of resources in poor countries are driven by consumption in the global north, experts argue in a commentary published in Nature Ecology & Evolution (🇬🇧). The trade agreements between the two are based on historical injustices and power imbalances.
The researchers state: “The global loss of biodiversity it has been disproportionately driven by the consumption of people in rich nations. The concept of ‘loss and damage’ – familiar from international agreements on climate breakdown – must be considered for the effects of biodiversity loss in countries in the global south.”
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Like climate breakdown, the loss of wildlife has significant social and economic impacts. As a result of the expansion of destructive mining, agriculture and deforestation by rich nations, people in poorer nations often have fewer natural resources to feed themselves, fewer opportunities to generate income and a loss of cultural values, according to experts.
It is worth remembering that in COP15 – in Montreal last year – it was agreed that rich nations should pay more to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, but there was no discussion of compensation for historic losses.
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