Countries still way behind on UN biodiversity targets, research shows

Governments are ​set to fall well short of meeting a ‌major ​UN target to protect and conserve biodiversity in at least 30% of the world's land and seas by 2030, research published on Wednesday showed.

As part of the ‌Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreed in late 2022, nearly 200 countries signed on to the "30 by 30" goal and pledged to mobilise at least $200 billion a year to reverse decades of biodiversity loss. But while another 1.3 million sq km of ‌land and 6 million sq km of marine areas have come under formal protection since the agreement went into ‌effect, total coverage is still only 20% and 10% respectively, according to research by several environmental groups led by the US-based Campaign for Nature and Together for the Ocean.

The findings are in line with an official progress report due to be submitted to the UN Convention on ⁠Biological Diversity conference ​in Yerevan, Armenia, next ⁠month. A draft released in July warned that none of the 23 goals in the agreement would be reached by 2030 "unless collective implementation accelerates rapidly".

"Progress ⁠is being made clearly, but it is uneven, and it is clearly also not at the pace and scale required to ​achieve the Framework's 23 targets by 2030," Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the UNCBD, said at a briefing ⁠this month. The Wednesday report said around 26% of terrestrial and inland water areas would be protected if all existing government pledges were fulfilled by ⁠2030, ​but only 12% of marine ecosystems would be covered.

The annual funding shortfall is approximately $75 billion to $150 billion, with spending on marine protection standing at just $1.8 billion, well below the $16 billion required, it said. Even if the "30x30" targets ⁠were achieved, more efforts were needed to ensure that ecosystems were genuinely protected, it said, noting that of the 10% ⁠of the ocean currently covered ⁠by protection plans, only 3.5% was considered "effectively" protected.

"There's a significant gap between protection on paper and protection in practice. A line on a map does not mean protection in the ‌water," said Pauli ‌Merriman, senior director for oceans at WWF International.