3 Ways World Leaders Should Step Up to Protect Biodiversity

This month, world leaders will gather in New York for the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where they face a pivotal opportunity to turn conservation commitments into concrete action. Around the world, nature faces significant challenges from overfishing, poorly planned development, resource extraction, and climate-related impacts—pressures that are causing a host of problems, including declining ocean health, deforestation, and even species extinction. 

Fortunately, governments have pledged to take action to address many of these threats—through treaties, national policies, and other means—and appear poised to build on that momentum. For example, the World Trade Organization recently announced the Sept. 15 entry into force of its treaty to curb harmful fisheries subsidies. Likewise, U.N. members are on the verge of ratifying a treaty to protect the high seas, and they’ve proved, through large-scale efforts around the world, that conservation finance models work. By building on established diplomatic frameworks and existing commitments, countries can continue working together to advance biodiversity protection and other conservation through practical, collaborative approaches to inspire the next wave of global action. Here’s how:

Follow through on “30 by 30”

In 2022, the 196 member governments of the Convention on Biological Diversity agreed to an expansive Global Biodiversity Framework that included commitments to protect at least 30% of the world’s lands and ocean by 2030. With five years remaining until that “30 by 30” deadline, countries are moving closer to the target. According to the Marine Protection Atlas, 9.6% of the ocean is under some form of protection; to achieve the global 30 by 30 goal, protecting the high seas is critical. Although these waters outside the jurisdiction of any country cover two-thirds of the global ocean, only 1% of the high seas is protected. 

More than 50 countries have ratified the 2023 U.N. high seas treaty, with fewer than five more ratifications needed for it to enter into force. While governments need to continue establishing massive marine protected areas (MPAs) in their own waters, MPAs on the high seas will be vital to achieving 30 by 30. One of the treaty’s most promising provisions paves the way for just that. Governments should use their time in New York to begin identifying the special places on the high seas that deserve the highest levels of conservation, for example those with rich biodiversity or rare marine organisms, or areas where high numbers of migratory species transit.

Fulfill climate commitments

This year marks a decade since the landmark Paris Agreement, which, among other provisions, requires  parties to design and implement climate action plans. These plans, which are known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the agreement, can help countries both reduce emissions and adapt. Many coastal countries with mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrasses have used their NDCs to protect these ecosystems, all of which have scientifically proven climate mitigation and adaptation benefits. Seychelles, for example, has committed to protecting 100% of its mangrove and seagrass ecosystems by 2030, which will safeguard wildlife habitat and help to build climate resilience across the country’s 115 islands. 

Every five years, governments must revise their NDCs to be more ambitious and bring the world closer to meeting the Paris Agreement’s goals, with the next updates due by the end of this year. At UNGA, governments should redouble efforts to achieve their existing NDC commitments and announce strong and impactful new NDCs. A strong showing in this area would also help to establish momentum leading up to the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, slated for November in Belém, Brazil.

Finance ambitious conservation plans

Historically, conservation relied primarily on government appropriations and donor funding. Those mechanisms are still critical, but to meet the diverse and escalating threats of today and achieve 30 by 30, new approaches are also needed. Two tools in particular are proving successful to finance conservation efforts, and governments should take the opportunity at UNGA to discuss how they can be better used in the near future.

One is converting debt to fund conservation. These efforts, like a 2023 conversion in Ecuador to protect the marine area around the Galápagos Islands, refinance existing commercial debt on improved terms, provided that a country uses some of the savings for long-term conservation funding. The Pew Charitable Trusts and several other nongovernmental organizations are part of a new coalition to scale up these debt conversions to strengthen conservation outcomes over time. To date, eight nature-focused deals have closed around the world, generating $1.8 billion for conservation and enhancing the protection of more than 260 million hectares of land and sea. 

The other tool is called project finance for permanence (PFP), which makes sustained funding contingent on protected area managers meeting tangible, measurable goals encompassing social, economic, and environmental benefits. PFPs bring together rights holders, governments, and nongovernmental and philanthropic partners around a single vision to secure long-term investment in large-scale conservation initiatives. PFPs are built to last: They are collaboratively designed, locally led, nationally supported, and—provided the benchmarks are met—sustainably financed. In 2021, Pew joined a collaboration called Enduring Earth, which has worked alongside more than 100 local partners across five PFP initiatives, collectively securing durable conservation outcomes, strengthening livelihoods, and sustaining the protection of over 200 million hectares of lands, ocean, and freshwater.

UNGA is a crucial moment for the fate of the world’s biodiversity. The next five years will be critical to reaching the goals that U.N. members have set for themselves and the globe. At this month’s meeting, leaders should celebrate the progress they’ve made but should spend far more time determining what they must do next to ensure that nature, and all who rely on it, can thrive far into the future.

Roger-Mark De Souza is a vice president for environment at The Pew Charitable Trusts.