SRINAGAR, Mar 20 (IPS) – The Forest Declaration Assessment Partners have called for urgent reforms to the international financial system to halt deforestation and protect biodiversity. It has also pitched for redirecting the public subsidies to mitigate the direct and indirect environmental risks from both public and private finance.
The report, titled Transforming Forest Finance, has termed the role of finance as critical in addressing the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, while offering six priority actions to align financial flows with sustainable development goals by 2030.
“Achieving sustainable management of natural ecosystems and a green economy in harmony with nature requires a profound shift in our global financial system,” the report states. “Simply increasing funds will not halt and reverse ecosystem decline. We must also address the deeper socio-economic and political forces that drive deforestation and degradation.”
The Funding Gap and the Need for Systemic Change
The report has identified the stark reality of the funding gap for climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation. Despite decades of efforts, current financial mechanisms have fallen short of delivering the scale of funding needed to protect forests. For example, payments for jurisdictional REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) programs, a key mechanism for forest finance, are described as a “drop in the bucket” compared to what is required to halt and reverse forest loss.
“Payments for jurisdictional REDD+ are far smaller than required to halt and reverse forest loss and do not reflect the true social and environmental costs of inaction,” the report notes. Experts estimate that the cost of implementing REDD+ effectively ranges from USD 30 to 50 per metric ton of CO?, far higher than the current payments of USD 5-10 per ton.
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