Simone Lovera, Biomass Action Network
Now it is Action Time for biodiversity policy makers, who are coming together at COP 16 for the first time since the adoption of the historic Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022, and the big question on the table is: “Do we have the resources we need?” Delivering finance for conservation will be at the heart of North-South negotiations the coming weeks, and the demand of developing countries that developed countries pay the new and additional costs of biodiversity conservation in light of historical injustices is fair and square.
The good news is that there is a lot of money - but much of it is being spent the wrong way: The recently released Banking on Biodiversity Collapse 2024 report of the Forests and Finance Coalition shows how 77 billion USD was invested in forest risk commodities between January 2023 and June 2024 alone. Even climate finance continues to be spent on policies that destroy biodiversity – despite the essential role healthy ecosystems like forests play in climate mitigation and adaptation.
A new report by a group of Asian NGOs including several Biomass Action Network members on the devastating impact of subsidized industrial bioenergy production demonstrates how misguided incentives destroy precious ecosystems in the name of climate action. In 2023 alone, wood pellet demand in Asia surged by no less than 20%, with South Korea and Japan being the lead importers. This demand is driven by lush subsidy schemes and other incentives like the Japanese Feed-in-Tariff system, despite growing scientific evidence that bioenergy is not only a disaster for biodiversity but also triggers more greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels, per unit or energy. The Korean government supported biomass burning with more than 33 million USD per year between 2015 and 2022. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s own climate strategies, which include an aggressive co-firing scheme that is seen as a survival strategy for the coal industry itself, will trigger an additional demand of more than 8 million tonnes of biomass. This is threatening at least 10 million hectares of undisturbed forests, and includes massive expansion of monoculture tree plantations which already comprise 1.2 million hectares only a few years into this plan - which will replace forests and other ecosystems.
That is why today’s International Day of Action on Big Biomass will focus on the devastating impacts of industrial bioenergy production on biodiversity - and the false finance that supports this industry, including harmful subsidies.
It is clear that we do not simply need to “mobilize” resources, in large part we need to redirect funding to ensure it contributes to conservation instead of destruction. Another new report by the Forest and Finance Coalition “Regulating Finance for Biodiversity”, shows exactly how this could be done. It is high time, developed countries put their money where their mouth is, reform subsidies, and regulate the financial sector to ensure public and private investments contribute to biodiversity conservation, instead of destruction.
