To what extent can private finance contribute to the achievement of biodiversity targets? A new commentary published in Nature Ecology & Evolution warns that, although private market-based mechanisms play an important role in addressing some drivers of biodiversity loss, there is an overreliance on that type of funding in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The commentary is authored by Katie Kedward & Josh Ryan-Collins (University College London) and SUPERB researchers Sophus zu Ermgassen (University of Oxford) and Sven Wunder (European Forest Institute). They argue that heavy reliance on private finance poses contradictions in delivering conservation outcomes and propose a critical ongoing role for direct public funding of conservation.
Reference
Kedward, K., zu Ermgassen, S., Ryan-Collins, J. et al. Heavy reliance on private finance alone will not deliver conservation goals. Nat Ecol Evol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02098-6