Experts call for ‘loss and damage’ fund for nature in developing world

| June 10, 2023 | Leave a Comment

Deforestation

Item Link: Access the Resource

Date of Publication: May 29

Year of Publication: 2023

Publication City: London, UK

Publisher: The Guardian

Author(s): Phoebe Weston

Rich nations should pay for biodiversity loss, which disproportionately affects poor countries, say scientists.

Wealthy countries should pay for the loss and damage they cause to nature in poorer countries in the same way as for climate impacts, researchers have argued.

At the Cop27 climate talks in November, world leaders agreed to a dedicated “loss and damage” fund providing financial assistance to poor nations stricken by climate disaster. More developed countries, which are largely responsible for driving climate breakdown, are to pay compensation to poorer nations, which are typically more vulnerable to its impacts.

Now researchers are arguing a similar fund should be created for nature loss. This is because habitat loss and overexploitation of resources in poor countries is driven by consumption in the global north, researchers argue in a comment piece published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. The trade agreements between the two are based on historical injustices and power imbalances.

Read the full article here and watch the video below.

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