Financial Mechanism and Resources

Resumed meetings of SBSTTA 24, SBI 3 and WG2020-3

Mr. Jeremy Eppel, on behalf of the Panel of Experts, presented the work of the Panel of Experts on Resource Mobilization during the side-event held on 23 March 2022 at the International Conference Center in Geneva, Switzerland during the SBSTTA 24, SBI3 and WG2020-3 meetings. Mr. Eppel showcased to the Resumed Session delegates the main results of the analyses contained in the Panel’s three reports, as well as the recent Note on Effective and Feasible Pathways for Closing the Biodiversity Finance Gap, clarified the possible use of these findings for their work on the Global Biodiversity Framework and answered questions from the delegates attending the side-event.

The power point presentation is available here.

Webinar: Resource mobilization and the post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework: reflections from the Panel of Experts’ report

In preparation for Parties’ deliberations on Resource Mobilization and target 19 in the upcoming Resumed Session meetings, the Secretariat is organizing a webinar "Resource mobilization and the post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework: reflections from the Panel of Experts’ report". The aim of the webinar will be to present the updated and final report on the estimation of resources needed for implementing the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, taking into account the assessment of the amount of funds needed for the implementation of the Convention and its Protocols during the eighth replenishment period of the Trust Fund of the Global Environment Facility, prepared in accordance with decision 14/23. It will provide background information on the methodologies used for the estimates and position this report in the broader work of the expert panel.

The webinar was held on Tuesday, 14 December 2021, from 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. (EST).

The fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention adopted a comprehensive and participatory process for the preparation of a successor framework to the current Strategic Plan for Biodiversity which was adopted at the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (Decisions X/2 and X/5) including the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, for the 2011-2020 period.

Aichi Biodiversity Target 20 calls for a substantial increase in the mobilization of financial resources from all sources for effectively implementing the Strategic Plan, in accordance with the agreed Strategy for Resource Mobilization.

In decision 14/22, on resource mobilization, the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties affirmed that resource mobilization will be an integral part of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and decided to initiate preparations of this resource mobilization component at an early stage, and in full coherence and coordination with the overall process of developing the post-2020 framework.

The work of the expert panel

In the same decision, the Conference of the Parties requested the Executive Secretary to contract a panel of experts which shall prepare pertinent analyses and reports, to contribute to the overall process for the post-2020 framework, and for the consideration of the Open-ended Working Group on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and of the Conference of the Parties at its fifteenth meeting. As per paragraph 15 of the decision, the expert panel has the following tasks:
  1. To prepare an evaluation of the structure, content and effectiveness of the strategy for resource mobilization indicating gaps, to review the experiences of achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 20 and implementing the strategy and their adequacy, and to consider the need for appropriate action;
  2. To estimate the resources from all sources needed for different scenarios of the implementation of the post-2020 framework, taking into account the needs assessment of the Global Environment Facility, as well as costs and benefits arising from the implementation of the post-2020 framework;
  3. To contribute to the draft resource mobilization component of the post-2020 biodiversity framework as a follow-up to the current strategy for resource mobilization, based on the existing strategy and the exercises described in the previous subparagraphs.

As per paragraph 15 of decision 14/22, the expert panel is to explore and consider various aspects of resource mobilization; namely, to:
  1. explore options and approaches for mobilizing and providing additional resources from all sources;
  2. consider ways to strengthen the engagement of a wider range of financial and private institutions, at all levels and from all sources, to support the implementation of the post-2020 framework;
  3. consider ways to further mainstream biodiversity into national economic budgets and development plans, including key productive sectors;
  4. consider ways to improve the readiness and capacity of Parties to access and utilize financial resources in support of the implementation of the post-2020 framework.

With the generous financial support provided by the Government of Germany, the following three experts were contracted, based on a competitive process in accordance with United Nations rules, and taking into account the balance requested in decision 14/22.

Ms. Tracey Cumming has over fifteen years’ experience in biodiversity policy and biodiversity finance. Tracey is currently a global Technical Advisor for the UNDP Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) where she provides guidance to countries on biodiversity expenditure reviews; finance needs assessments; biodiversity finance plans and the implementation of finance mechanisms at a national level. She previously led the South African BIOFIN work in the national Department of Environmental Affairs, and was a Policy Advisor in the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), focusing on resource economics, incentives, mainstreaming and stewardship. Tracey also serves on the IUCN WCPA Specialist Group on Privately Protected Areas and Nature Stewardship. Tracey has an undergraduate degree in Economics and Environmental Science, and a Master’s degree in Environmental Science.

Mr. Jeremy Eppel is the co-founder of Eppel Sustainability, a consultancy established in 2016 to help organisations tackle global sustainability challenges and secure funding. He has advised the World Bank’s Global Wildlife Program, the Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit, UN Environment Programme, CITES and a range of non-Governmental organisations. Until 2016, Jeremy was Deputy Director International in the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). In this role, he commissioned and oversaw the work of the UK-India High-Level Panel on Resource Mobilisation, led the UK delegation to CBD COP 11 and COP 12 and, as a member of the Bureau, co-chaired the contact group on resource mobilisation at COP 12. Jeremy also led pioneering efforts to tackle the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) through the London and Kasane Conferences, by funding frontline projects under the IWT Challenge Fund and the Darwin Initiative, and by exploring opportunities for new sources of finance for biodiversity protection. Jeremy has almost four decades of experience advising Ministers and providing leadership in international and domestic policy making, including eight years spent as Environment Counsellor in the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD), Paris. Jeremy is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Trustee of IUCN UK and of TRAFFIC International.

Dr. Yasha Feferholtz is a senior economist for EcoHealth Alliance, headquartered in New York City, United States. In this position, Yasha has been working and advising on USAID and DTRA funded projects for sustainable development and health economics in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Liberia. He regularly conducts economic analyses to promote policies on sustainable development and conservation for global projects. Yasha has led studies on the economic impact of emerging infectious diseases, allocation of global resources for the Global Virome Project (GVP), economic valuation of ecosystem services from forest and health, cost-benefit analyses for Rabies virus in Asia and Rift Valley Fever virus in Africa, economic impacts of global wildlife trade, and integrated assessment modelling to understand the environmental impact of natural resource degradation. Most of his work is applied to public policy and he has co-authored several peer-review papers and reports in sustainable economic development, conservation, and health. After obtaining a degree in finance, Yasha earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wyoming, specializing in environmental economics, and behavioural-experimental economics under a Fulbright scholarship.

Call for Evidence on Resource mobilization

In order to support the work of the expert panel, notification 2019-086 invited Parties, other Governments, Secretariats of relevant multilateral environmental agreements, relevant public and private stakeholder initiatives, indigenous peoples and local communities representatives, to provide their input into the technical work on resource mobilization, in form of their pertinent views and experiences, by completing the questionnaire which reflects the individual tasks given to the expert panel in paragraph 15 of decision 14/22. The submissions will be taken into consideration by the panel of experts in developing the analyses and reports requested by the COP decision and are made available below.

Governments:

International organizations, indigenous peoples and local communities and relevant stakeholders

The Thematic Workshop on Resource Mobilization for the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework was held in Berlin from 14 to 16 January 2020. Convened by the Convention Secretariat with financial and logistical support from the Government of Germany, the workshop was one in a suite of consultative workshops convened pursuant to decision 14/34 on a comprehensive and participatory process for the preparation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. The workshop’s objective was to enable open discussions among Parties and stakeholder experts on all aspects of resource mobilization with a view to developing concrete proposals thereon and as input into the work of the panel of experts, to be considered in the further development of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. The documents and the presentations as well as the final report of the thematic workshop are available on the Secretariat’s webpage at the following link: https://www.cbd.int/meetings/POST2020-WS-2020-03.

As per paragraph 15 of the decision 14/22, on resource mobilization, the expert panel prepared the following three reports for consideration at the third meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation:

a) Evaluation and review of the strategy for resource mobilization and Aichi Biodiversity Target 20. Document CBD/SBI/3/5/ADD1 provides a summary while document CBD/SBI/3/INF/2 provides the full report.

b) Estimation of resources needed for implementing the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. The preliminary report of the expert panel is provided in document CBD/SBI/3/5/ADD2 and document CBD/SBI/3/INF/5 provides the technical annexes.

c) Contribution to a draft resource mobilization component of the post-2020 biodiversity framework as a follow-up to the current strategy for resource mobilization. The contribution of the expert panel is available as CBD/SBI/3/5/ADD3.

The three reports, as well as the overarching document CBD/SBI/3/5 Resource mobilization are posted in a six United Nations languages under the meeting documents for the third meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation available at: https://www.cbd.int/meetings/SBI-03.