At the U.N. biodiversity conference (COP17), leaders are confronting financial systems that drive biodiversity destruction. An installation by Friends of the Earth International uses elephants to represent overlooked issues.
According to An Lambrechts of Greenpeace International, the global economy allocates only $1 to nature protection for every $30 spent on its destruction. This finding from the U.N. Environment Programme’s State of Finance for Nature 2026 report underscores a significant financial disparity. WWF International’s Living Planet report indicated a 73% decline in wild vertebrate populations between 1970 and 2022, attributing losses to climate change, agriculture, and financial flows towards nature-harming industries.
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework aims to cut $500 billion annually from subsidies supporting biodiversity-harming activities, such as unsustainable fishing and industrial agriculture. However, financial support for these “nature-negative” activities remains substantial.
Source: Mongabay