A new study launched at the U.N. Environment Assembly in Nairobi warns that international funding to help countries meet the global “30×30” biodiversity target is rising but remains billions of dollars short of what is needed.
The State of International 30×30 Funding report has tracked public and philanthropic support for protected and conserved areas in developing countries since 2014. It finds that annual international funding has grown by about 150% over the past decade, reaching just over $1.1 billion in 2024.
That increase, however, falls far short of the roughly $6 billion per year needed by the end of the decade to meet Target 3 of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. That target aims to conserve at least 30% of the world’s land, inland waters and oceans by 2030 in an effort to stem the dual crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. However, at current growth rates, the report estimates a $4 billion annual shortfall by 2030.
The authors say their estimate is conservative. The analysis includes only flows that are clearly linked to protected and conserved areas and relies on patchy donor reporting. Still, they argue, the trend is clear: Recent growth in funding is not enough to match countries’ commitments under the Global Biodiversity Framework.
Regional and thematic gaps also stand out. Africa now receives nearly half of all tracked funding, while small island developing states receive only 4.5%, despite being identified as priorities under the framework. Marine ecosystems receive just 14% of funding, though the ocean covers most of the planet.
The report also highlights the vulnerability of donor concentration. Just five major donors and mechanisms — Germany, the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility, the EU and the United States — provide more than half of all tracked funding. That reliance, the authors warn, leaves 30×30 “vulnerable to political shifts and changing priorities,” including the shuttering of USAID this year.
For ministers from biodiversity-rich nations, the findings are both familiar and urgent. Sierra Leone’s environment minister, Jiwoh Abdulai, told Mongabay Africa that frontline countries are already paying the price for delays.
“I think we just need to keep reminding the world that this is a matter of urgency,” he said. “We feel the impact right now in terms of how it affects our lives, how it affects livelihoods. It’s not something that is abstract to us.”
Abdulai makes the case that wealthier countries need to see biodiversity finance not as charity, but as self-interest. As he put it, without such investments, climate change will accelerate climate-related migration, which isn’t good for anyone.
“This is not altruistic from their point of view. You’re not donating money to save us. This is also about your survival. This is about the survival of your economies,” he said.
