Reversing Species Loss: Nigeria Among 139 Nations Getting Head Start On Efforts

With global biodiversity loss at dangerous levels, Nigeria and 138 other countries have received a lifeline to fast-track efforts to conserve, protect and restore species and ecosystems as soon as a new global accord currently under negotiation is approved.

The new financing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), totaling $43 million, will give developing countries the means to quickly put the anticipated Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework into practice and make headway towards the goal of halting and reversing species loss this decade.

Supported with technical expertise from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the participating countries will work to analyse and align their national policies, targets, finance, and monitoring systems to take effective action on global threats to biodiversity.

“As we celebrate the International Day for Biological Diversity, this commitment shows that the world is united in recognizing the urgent need to end the destruction of nature and the loss of the services it provides,” Elizabeth Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity said. “This early action will prepare Parties to mobilize for the action that all sectors of society will take to make these aspirations a reality in the 10 years ahead.”

The Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, a 10-year plan to halt the increase in the rate of extinctions and bring 30 per cent of land and sea areas under protection, is expected to be agreed by the 196 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity when they meet in Kunming later this year.

Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO and Chairperson of the GEF, said it was critically important for all countries to be ready to act quickly once the new framework is approved.

“Setting our aspirations is only a first step, and this coming decade requires us to sprint,” Rodriguez said.

“Recognising the intense pressures on developing countries as well as their unprecedented commitment to change the trajectory of biodiversity loss, the GEF is making these Early Action Grants available even before the new global accord is agreed.

Countries can use this ‘fast track’ financial approach to update their biodiversity strategies and build capacities to deliver in the Global Biodiversity Framework. We stand ready to continue to help stewards of globally important biodiversity elevate nature in their planning and quickly scale up efforts that together can turn international goals into reality,” he added.

The Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework is currently in its final negotiation stages, with the fourth and final meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group on the Framework to be held from June 21 to 26, 2022, in Nairobi, Kenya.

The GEF Early Action Grants will provide immediate financial and technical support to developing country governments, drawing from enabling activity resources in the biodiversity focal area in the GEF’s seventh funding cycle, known as GEF-7.

The support is designed to help accelerate implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework once it is formally agreed at the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15). Biodiversity protection also represents the biggest share of the GEF-8 programming period, which will run from July 2022 to June 2026.

Apart from Nigeria, the grant recipient countries are Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Congo DR, Cook Islands, Costa Rica,  Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, and Iraq.

Others include Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Niue, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Trinidad and Tobago, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.