
BEST PRACTICE SPONSOR 2020
23FAUNA & FLORA INTERNATIONAL |
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD & RURAL AFFAIRS
on human society, affect our ability to
supply food to a growing population.
These warnings have been
reinforced by the emergence of
powerful grassroots movements
calling for action, most notably the
school strikers and their 16-year
old figurehead Greta Thunberg,
alongside the civil disobedience group
ExtinctionRebellion.
These sobering conclusions from the
world’s top environmental scientists
did not come as a shock to us at
Fauna & Flora International. Indeed,
empowering communities to achieve
the UN’s development outcomes
through working with nature has long
been at the core of our work.
Environmental action versus
words
These factors have all renewed the
impetus for decisive political responses.
Environmental concerns are now
moving up the policy agenda, with
a net-zero carbon economy by 2050
now British government policy – and a
world-leading one at that.
Elsewhere we have seen parliaments
declare climate emergencies, including
our own in the UK, alongside
gathering momentum for a strong
global deal for nature in 2020.
There remains, however, a gap
between words and the necessary
actions. This is not a gap that
governments can overcome on their
own. These monumental challenges
will not be tackled without the
support of non-state actors, including
civil society and NGOs, such as
ourown.
To do this, another gap needs to be
overcome – the huge funding disparity
between the finance needed to
preserve and restore nature and the
current levels of investment. Estimates
in a report prepared by Credit Suisse
indicate that up to $400 billion is
needed every year to protect the
environment, but that currently just
$52 billion is being directed towards
conservation globally.
This dramatic shortage of funds
inevitably means that conservation
efforts are failing to achieve what
they could – and what is necessary to
balance Earth’s systems and safeguard
human society. This needs to change,
because investment in conservation
delivers results.
The same IPBES report that warned of
the dire state of nature currently also
said that the conservation investment
between 1996 and 2008 had reduced
the extinction risk for mammals and
birds in 109 countries by 29 per cent
per country. Imagine how much more
could be achieved if ten times more
funding for conservation was delivered,
as recommended by the authors of the
funding gap study.
Perhaps we don’t have to imagine.
There are concrete actions
governments can take that would
deliver more funding for conservation.
For example, changing the rules to
enable higher rate taxpayers to pass
tax relief onto their chosen charities
could raise at least £250 million per
year, according to the independent
Charity Tax Commission.
Collecting walnuts,
Kyrgyzstan
Empowering
communities
to achieve the
UN’s
development
outcomes
through
working with
nature has
long been at
the core of
our work
“
“