COP28’s Nature, Land Use and Ocean Day sees over $186 million in funding

Over $186 million of recent financing for nature and local weather in direction of forests, mangroves and the ocean was introduced throughout COP28’s Nature, Land Use and Ocean Day.

This funding builds on the $2.5 billion mobilised to guard and restore nature throughout COP28’s World Climate Action Summit (WCAS) on December 2.

These pledges prioritised forest safety, mangrove and inexperienced house enlargement, and bolstering funding for nature conservation and ocean sustainability.

Leaders emphasised the urgency of fast motion to safeguard nature as a cornerstone in reaching the Paris Agreement’s targets.

“There is no path to fulfilling the Paris Agreement and keeping 1.5°C within reach without protecting and restoring nature, land, and the ocean. We must work in partnership, especially with the indigenous peoples and local communities who steward these critical assets,” mentioned Razan Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28. “The diverse, incredible turn-out for Nature, Land Use, and Ocean Day at COP evidences the support for this dual nature-climate agenda and its centrality to the response to the Global Stocktake. I am delighted that we also have a clear pathway for nature to COP30 in Belém.”

“The COP28 Presidency; the UAE, has demonstrated real action for Nature, one that is backed by significant financial commitments. The journey to 1.5 as we all know, is not possible without nature, and this level of action must be expedited to achieve real progress by COP30,” mentioned Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana.

Reversing nature loss can present upwards of 30 per cent of the mitigation motion wanted to maintain 1.5°C inside attain by 2030. Nature additionally has an important function to play in decreasing climate-related hazards, akin to floods and fires. Nature preservation also can contribute a possible $10 trillion price of recent enterprise alternatives and supply nearly 400 million new jobs.

At COP26, local weather motion leaders agreed to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030 and, earlier this yr, adopted the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), with its purpose to guard 30 % of the land and ocean by 2030. These targets rely upon funding in and management from indigenous communities, who steward some 80 % of worldwide biodiversity.

“For thousands of years, our people have been devoted to living in balance and harmony with nature, observing the behaviour of the biodiversity that surrounds us, the animals, plant life cycles and water flows,” mentioned María Jose Andrade Cerda, an Indigenous girl from the Kichwa neighborhood of Serena, Ecuador, who leads financial and neighborhood improvement within the council of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon. “By bringing science and indigenous knowledge together, COP28 has helped remind the world that understanding and respecting the intricate dance between humanity and nature is paramount to our future.”

A key coverage final result of Nature, Land Use, and Ocean Day is a joint assertion between the COP28 Presidency and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), chaired by the People’s Republic of China. The COP28 Joint Statement on Climate, Nature and People was endorsed by 18 international locations who lead local weather, nature and 11 biodiversity partnerships throughout forests, mangroves and the ocean. This signalled a brand new dedication for international locations to coordinate and concurrently implement their nature and local weather methods.

During WCAS, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28 introduced that the UAE will contribute $100 million of recent finance for nature-climate initiatives, with an preliminary $30 million funding within the Ghanaian authorities’s ‘Resilient Ghana’ plan. The UAE and Brazil will co-lead a two-year strategic partnership bridging COP28 to COP30.