Canada is failing tropical conservation, key to extinction crisis fight and pandemic prevention
$650 million in annual conservation aid is needed to make Canada a world leader: report
CHESTER, NS, Sept. 17, 2020 /CNW/ - Canada is a global cheapskate when it comes to supporting the world's most threatened and biologically rich tropical ecosystems.
A report published today by the International Conservation Fund of Canada (ICFC) found that Canada, while increasing funds for conservation at home, is near the back of the pack among wealthy nations when it comes to paying to save tropical nature.
Protecting the tropics is vital to stemming the tide of vanishing species?happening faster now, according to this week's UN report on biodiversity, than at any time in human history?and to reducing the risk of new deadly pandemics. Tropical forests also slow climate change by removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in trees.
The report compared biodiversity-related bilateral Official Development Assistance?the main source of international conservation finance?from donor nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) between 2002 and 2018.
While other donors generally increased support for international conservation?some dramatically?during the period, Canada's conservation aid has been and remains scant. The country's average annual contribution for the years 2016-2018, for example, was just over $10 million?less by two orders of magnitude than that contributed by France and Germany (more than US$1 billion each) to help lower-income countries save nature.
Even as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in 2019 that Canada was "stepping up as a world leader in biodiversity and nature conservation," the country has not been among the top 10 donors of biodiversity-related international aid since 2012.
The ICFC report argues that Canadian conservation leadership is nevertheless within reach. It recommends that Canada match or exceed other top donors by increasing Canadian funds for international conservation to at least $650 million per year.
The report calls on Ottawa to urge other industrialized countries to up their support for conservation within developing nations as well. The report also calls on Canada to ensure a portion of its international support for the fight against climate change goes to "nature-based climate solutions" in the tropics that also benefit biodiversity and human well-being.
Report:
https://icfcanada.org/docs/ICFC_report_Canada_biodiversity_aid_FOR_RELEASE_2020-09-17.pdf
Backgrounder:
https://icfcanada.org/docs/ICFC_News_Backgrounder_2020-09-17.pdf
SOURCE The International Conservation Fund of Canada
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