Big Promises To Indigenous Groups From New Global Nature Fund — But Will It Deliver?

VANCOUVER — The devastating wildfires in the interior of British Columbia, Canada, in mid-August, forced the province into a state of emergency and gloom. But just a few days later, as the smoky skies of Vancouver began to clear up, environmentalists found a reason to cheer.

About 1,500 delegates representing environmental ministries, youth, women, Indigenous Peoples, and civil society gathered in the coastal city to promise a slew of actions to save the planet’s biodiversity. One of them came on August 24, 2023, when 185 member countries officially launched the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF).

The new fund, announced during the four-day-long 7th Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), plans to raise nearly $250 billion to help budget-strapped countries meet the targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework to restore nature worldwide by 2030 as agreed during last year’s U.N. biodiversity conference, COP 15. The fund will be managed by GEF—the world’s largest source of multilateral funding for biodiversity. Canada has already pledged $146.8 million (CA$200 million), and the UK committed to invest $12.58 million (£10 million) into the fund.

Another promise made came during the announcement of the fund. In a first-of-its-kind move for the GEF, 20% of the GBF fund will be channeled to non-state actors, like Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs), to support their initiatives to conserve biodiversity. Today, Indigenous peoples conserve nearly 80% of the world’s biodiversity.