UN chief urges 'significant investment' in fund to save nature

UN chief Antonio Guterres appealed on Sunday to nations gathered at a biodiversity summit in the Colombian city of Cali for "significant investment" in a fund set up to conserve and restore nature.

"We must leave Cali with significant investment in the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), and commitments to mobilise other sources of public and private finance," the secretary-general said in a video played to delegates to the COP16 biodiversity conference that officially starts Monday.

The GBFF was created last year to help countries achieve the goals of the so-called Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in Canada in 2022 with 23 targets to "halt and reverse" the loss of nature by 2030.

So far, countries have made about $250 million in commitments to the fund, according to agencies monitoring progress.

The fund is part of a broader agreement made two years ago for countries to mobilise at least $200 billion per year by 2030 for biodiversity, including of $20 billion per year from rich nations by 2025 to help the developing world.

Guterres highlighted that destroying nature increases conflict over resources, hunger and disease, fuels poverty and slashes GDP.

"A collapse in nature's services — such as pollination, and clean water — would see the global economy lose trillions of dollars a year, with the poorest hardest hit," he said at the ceremony that featured Indigenous rites and performances.

Avoiding such a future would entail countries "honoring promises on finance and accelerating support to developing countries", said Guterres.

"Those profiting from nature must contribute to its protection and restoration," he added.