Six months after the UN Biodiversity Conference, 74 civil society organizations call on financial institutions to protect biodiversity and take action in implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework
Six months since its adoption, banks and financiers have yet to develop concrete plans to implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). On June 26, 2023, 74 civil society organizations endorsed a briefing which urgently calls on banks and financiers to take responsibility for their role in driving the biodiversity crisis by endorsing a new briefing, “How Should Financiers Align with the Global Biodiversity Framework? Five Key Principles”.
Developed by Bank Information Center, BankTrack, Rainforest Action Network, and Friends of the Earth US, the briefing recommends five key principles banks and financiers must implement in order to stop and reverse biodiversity loss effectively and equitably. These include:
- Halting and reversing biodiversity loss
- Respecting and prioritizing the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities
- Fostering a Just Transition
- Ensuring ecosystem integrity
- Aligning institutional objectives across sectors, issues, and instruments
The GBF aims to reverse the currently unprecedented rates of biodiversity loss through a “whole-of-society approach,” explicitly including public and private financiers. Financiers are expected to align their “financial flows” with the goals and targets of the GBF in order to actively stop biodiversity loss, restore ecosystems, and protect Indigenous Peoples’ rights, which are crucial for protecting the world’s remaining biodiversity.
The financial sector has long supported activities and sectors that are driving nature destruction and violating human rights. As upstream, enabling actors, public and private financial institutions play a critical role in accelerating, slowing, or preventing key drivers of biodiversity loss.
Read what financiers must do to ensure they stop enabling harm to nature and people in the full briefing here.
