UK environment secretary calls on business and finance to make meaningful investment in nature-based solutions<\/p>\n
Aviva insurance company recently donated \u00a338m to help restore Britain\u2019s temperate rainforests, such as this Atlantic oakwood in Taynish national nature reserve, Scotland.<\/span>\u00a0Photograph: Nature Picture Library\/Alamy<\/p>\n <\/p>\n THE GUARDIAN The financial sector must be encouraged to invest in nature conservation for the world to meet this decade\u2019s UN biodiversity targets, the UK environment secretary has said.<\/p>\n Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Coffey, speaking at an event at Lancaster House in London to mobilise private finance after\u00a0Cop15<\/a>, said the private sector had a critical role to play in meeting this decade\u2019s deal to halt the destruction of Earth\u2019s ecosystems.<\/p>\n The agreement includes a target to scale global funding for nature to $200bn (\u00a3167bn) a year by the end of the decade, with companies and financial institutions expected to play a significant part.<\/p>\n Environment ministers, philanthropic organisations and Indigenous leaders met alongside chief executives and representatives of financial institutions at the event hosted by the UK government on Friday to discuss the next steps after the\u00a0Cop15<\/a>\u00a0biodiversity agreement. It was followed by a reception at Buckingham Palace with King Charles.<\/p>\n Companies and investors are being urged to do more to meet biodiversity and climate goals, as a failure to do so has been highlighted by the World Economic Forum as\u00a0a rising threat to global prosperity<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe framework is global. We will play our role [mobilising finance] but it\u2019s critical that it\u2019s not always the usual players. It\u2019s critical that we get businesses and financiers to be a key element of this, partly because a lot of nature-based solutions will meet biodiversity targets, as well as reduce emissions,\u201d Coffey said.<\/p>\n The environment secretary said the private sector and conservationists were meeting at an early stage to help avoid some of the\u00a0pitfalls of carbon markets<\/a>\u00a0and make sure business action on nature was meaningful.<\/p>\n The insurance company Aviva recently donated \u00a338m to conservation projects to help restore Britain\u2019s temperate rainforests, a key focus of environmental campaigners in recent years, which they say could be revived\u00a0over a fifth of the island.<\/a><\/p>\n After the agreement, Coffey said the UK would focus on improving the health of its protected areas, many of which were considered \u201cpaper parks\u201d by conservationists. The Kunming-Montreal Cop15\u00a0agreement<\/a>, reached in Canada last December, includes a high-profile target to protect 30% of land and sea.<\/p>\n
\n18 de febrero, 2023<\/p>\n