Fundraising to protect oceans, forests and other key nature sites falling short ahead of UN summit

Efforts to raise hundreds of billions of dollars to preserve the world’s oceans, forests, rivers, lakes and other parts of the natural world have fallen short ahead of a key U.N. The yawning gap between the stated ambition of nations to protect biodiversity and what money has been raised will be a central topic in Yerevan, Armenia, when the biodiversity conference, known as COP17, gets started on Monday. The nearly two-week event, scheduled to end Oct.

30, is a chance for nearly 200 countries that are part of the treaty to take stock of their progress on 23 global targets after agreeing to a historic deal crafted in Montreal in 2022. The United States is not a party to the treaty. Countries in Montreal committed to protect 30% of land and water considered important for biodiversity by 2030, a goal known as 30×30.

They also promised to raise $200 billion a year by 2030 for biodiversity and begin phasing out or reforming subsidies that could provide another $500 billion for nature. There were also commitments to increase to $20 billion annually by 2025 money that went to poor countries. That number would increase to $30 billion each year by 2030.

“We’re not moving fast enough,” convention executive secretary Astrid Schomaker told The Associated Press, before a U.N. progress report released Thursday found fewer than half of parties’ biodiversity targets are on track and that current commitments would only protect 26% of land and only 12% of sea by 2030. Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showed countries were raising between $75 billion and $92 billion each year from 2023 to 2025 — less than half the 2030 goal.

Commitments to reduce $500 billion in harmful subsidies — government support and funding for sectors like fisheries and agriculture — have gained little traction, with few countries identifying which subsidies they would cut. Countries were on track to provide the $20 billion to poor countries by 2025. The latest data showed $19 billion had been raised in 2024.

But a drop in foreign aid raises questions over whether the upward trend will continue. “Do we have enough money actually to finance the commitments that countries have made? And how do we get more finance to flow toward biodiversity positive outcomes?” Schomaker said.