Human greed has caused a major damage to the delicate biological diversity over the centuries. The estimated cost of rectifying this damage, at least to some extent, comes to a whopping Rs 23,65,000 crore per year. This huge fund requirement can be met if every human being on earth contributes Rs 3,378 every year or a little less than Rs 10 a day. The lowest estimate to rectify the situation is Rs 8,25,000 crore.
These target goals, called Aichi targets, were adopted at the last Conference of Parties (CoP-10) held in Nagoya (Japan) in October 2010. CoP-11 is expected to come out with a road map for operationalisation of the strategic plan and Aichi targets; facilitation of early entry into force of Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing; and determine targets for mobilising resources for implementing the strategic plan. At present, the international flows for biodiversity directly and indirectly is about Rs 33,000 crore, which is about 4.7 per cent of the global official development assistance of Rs 6,98,500 crore. “To enable CoP-11 to agree on targets for resource mobilisation for implementation of the strategic plan, an assessment of the requirement of funding to meet the Aichi targets at the global level is necessary,” says a concept note of the Union environment ministry.
India with Sweden, Ecuador and others co-sponsored a dialogue seminar on finance in Quito in March 2012, the outcomes of which resulted in an improved understanding between the developed and developing countries. Thereafter, India along with UK sponsored a high-level panel to assess the resources required globally to implement the strategic plan. An interim report of this panel will be presented to CoP-11.