On the first day of the UN Biodiversity Conference COP16, the UNDP Biodiversity Finance Initiative (UNDP BIOFIN), in collaboration with the Global Environment Facility and the CBD Secretariat, held a session titled “Unlocking Finance for GBF Implementation in 134 Countries”. The event served as a platform for countries to share their successes in implementing biodiversity finance plans (BFPs) and to launch the new BIOFIN 2024 Workbook, a comprehensive guide for the development of BFP.
Key messages from the opening remarks
Midori Paxton, Director of UNDP’s Nature Hub, emphasized the crucial role of both environment and finance ministries in protecting biodiversity. She emphasized how BIOFIN has changed the picture of biodiversity finance by showing how countries can align their financial strategies with biodiversity objectives. The importance of integrating these efforts into the new National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), which are aligned with the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), was a key theme of the event.
Ralf Becker, representing the German government, underlined the need to mobilize resources for nature conservation and stressed the need for multi-stakeholder participation to close the biodiversity finance gap. This global cooperation is essential to create effective solutions, he said. Mr. Becker also emphasized that “BIOFIN has been the lighthouse initiative on biodiversity finance”.