The average percentage of environmental expenditure of central governments in gross domestic products of some 40 countries has stayed around 0.2 per cent over the period between 2002 and 2010, and the average percentage of general governments including lower levels of governments has been around 0.7 percent, implying that a difference of 0.5 percent of gross domestic products for environmental protection has come from provincial and local governments. Several countries registered higher than 1 percentage of general government environmental protection spending in their national domestic products in 2009.
Although the overall trend in environmental spending is rather stable, many countries reported quantum jump in national budgets for biodiversity and ecosystem services. The two diagrams from Namibia provide a snapshot of the story that can also be found in South Africa, Vietnam, and Antigua and Barbuda, where ten-fold increase in biodiversity funding was reported. Globally speaking, national budgetary support to biodiversity and ecosystem services is estimated to be in the range between US$15 billion - $45 billion in 2010. If one per mille of gross domestic products can be allocated for biodiversity and ecosystem services, some US$63 billion may be expected in 2010.