The loss of biodiversity is costing more than USD 750 billion annually in lost ecosystem services. These services are vital to our economies and our well-being and include climate regulation, rainfall provision, watershed protection and livelihoods for local and indigenous peoples. Whilst the science is unclear about how much is needed to protect biodiversity and ecosystems the numbers all agree that the cost of doing nothing will be far higher. Joshua Bishop, Chief Economist of IUCN, says that what we need now is to “better understand the conservation funding gap for different components of natural capital” and the Little Biodiversity Finance Book is one step along this path.
The book’s authors, Charlie Parker (Global Canopy Programme) and Matthew Cranford (London School of Economics), find that the current level of funding for biodiversity and ecosystem services is around USD 36-38 billion per annum – far more than has previously been estimated – but around a half of this money is currently being delivered domestically in the EU, US and China. As the scale of ecosystem finance increases, however, a greater proportion of it needs to be delivered to developing countries where the majority of the world’s biodiversity exists and the impacts of biodiversity loss are most strongly felt.
The Little Biodiversity Finance Book highlights a multitude of policy options for biodiversity and ecosystem service finance. Given significant policy action finance could reach up to USD 141 billion by 2020. To achieve this, though, will require strong coordination across the biodiversity, climate change and development agendas.
