Permission to Destroy

To understand how the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is being implemented in practice, Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) investigated five cases on the ground, in territories where people are defending biodiversity. We found that while countries commit on paper to protecting biodiversity, including through international agreements, they also authorize projects that undermine it.

Responsibility is shared. Governments can do more to enforce biodiversity protection, but their choices are also constrained by international economic and financial rules. Read our report on the drivers of biodiversity loss.

Across the five cases in the report, we found recurring patterns:

• Every case involves significant commercial interests. Again and again, these are prioritized over biodiversity protection, while local communities and ecosystems bear the costs.
• Protected status does not guarantee effective protection. In several cases, protections have been weakened or set aside to make way for development—sometimes through decisions at the highest levels of government.
• Spatial planning holds a significant importance in the GBF, but our cases show how overlapping plans and fragmented responsibilities between institutions can undermine it. In practice, spatial planning often fails to prevent harmful development or protect communities’ rights and territories.
• Many restoration claims are tied to commercial interests and biodiversity offsetting. Planting trees does not restore a living ecosystem or the conditions biodiversity needs to thrive. In the cases we examined, projects also failed to respect the knowledge, rights and role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities who have cared for these territories for generations.
• Project communications often emphasise supposed environmental benefits while hiding the impacts on biodiversity and on Indigenous Peoples and local communities. In reality, communities can face pressure or harm involving both corporations and public institutions. Greenwashing claims are widely used to help present destructive projects as solutions.