The government's spending on harming nature

"For the first time, research published this year, identified 36 federal subsidies worth $26.3 billion annually that are potentially harmful to biodiversity. Fossil fuel subsidies alone account for $14.1 billion. It is extraordinary the Australian Government believes it can exclude fossil fuel subsidies on the basis of a technicality. Meanwhile, independent estimates place federal biodiversity conservation spending at below $1 billion annually. "

"The arithmetic is stark: the government spent more than $26 billion a year on harming nature, less than $1 billion conserving it. No government serious about halting biodiversity loss would preside over such an imbalance and say they were “on track”. >>
https://theconversation.com/australia-claims-it-is-on-track-to-save-nature-we-disagree-278081

Biodiversity-harmful subsidies in Australia
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14486563.2026.2623910
#FossilFuels #FossilFuelsSubsidies #biodiversity #harm #conservation #KMGBF #restoration #NoTake #fishing #ThreatenedSpecies #Australia #MarineLife #degradation #EPBCAct #war #climate #pollution #governance #values

Australia claims it is ‘on track’ to save nature. We disagree

"Ecosystems are being left to degrade, rare and precious species are sliding toward extinction, and billions of dollars are being used to quietly fund subsidies, including for fossil fuels, which contribute to the very destruction the government claims to be fixing."

"Australia already holds the world’s worst record for modern mammal extinctions – 38 species lost since colonisation, more than any other country. Against that grim inheritance, having no further extinctions (that we know about) is a remarkably low bar."

1. Restoration: not enough done, and the report knows it
2. Protected areas: national figures mask failures
3. Threatened species: declining, not recovering
4. Harmful fossil fuel subsidies hidden, conservation spending inflated

"This new report confirms those weaknesses extend to Australia’s self-assessment, which lacks the rigour and ambition the nature crisis demands.The reforms of Australia’s nature laws, passed in late 2025, are the most significant in a generation, and we welcome them. But legislation without implementation, adequate funding or a delivery plan is not enough."

"This important report – with its hidden subsidies, inflated spending figures, missing implementation plan, and a definition of “on track” that mistakes promises for progress – is not worthy of a nation with both the means and the obligation to lead." >>
https://theconversation.com/australia-claims-it-is-on-track-to-save-nature-we-disagree-278081
#biodiversity #conservation #KMGBF #restoration #NoTake #fishing #ThreatenedSpecies #FossilFuels #FossilFuelsSubsidies #Australia #MarineLife #degradation #EPBCAct

🧊 #BCubed online training happening tomorrow: Occurrence cubes and biological invasions

📍27 February, 15:00 CET

Delve into details of the Invasibility Cube which integrates trait, environmental and community species data to quantify invasion fitness, and generate spatial indicators of site invasibility and species and/or trait invasiveness. The b3alien #Python package will also be covered, which provides a technical solution to track Target 6 of the #KMGBF.

🔗https://gbif.link/b-cubed-training

Reflections from the 5th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves, Hangzhou, 2025

To ensure biosphere reserves become engines of transformation, we urge: Investment frameworks linking biodiversity outcomes to climate finance and sovereign borrowing . Youth and Indigenous leadership embedded in reserve governance and research .

How do you see the Hangzhou Action Plan shaping national strategies and local implementation?
#PolicyDialogue #HangzhouActionPlan #BiosphereReserves #SDGs #KMGBF #UNESCO

Today is the International Day for #BiologicalDiversity!

The #RedListIndex of #ThreatenedSpecies shows a continuous #decline from 0.82 in 1995 to 0.72 in 2024📉 (UN).

This negative #trend is not in line with the @UN #SDG aim to “halt the #loss of #biodiversity”⛔.

#GlobalGoals #SDGs #2030Agenda #SDG15 #RedList #KMGBF #biodiv #wildlife #nature
Data source: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/dataportal/database

RT by @EUCYPRUS: 🎉 We have a deal!

At #COP16Resumed in 🇮🇹 Rome, parties agreed on all key decisions to drive the implementation of the #KMGBF, securing:
🟢 biodiversity financing
🟢 global review procedures
🟢 monitoring framework

The proof that multilateralism works👉 https://europa.eu/!np7RDB
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https://nitter.privacydev.net/EU_ENV/status/1895426209917640961#m

🐒 This week negotiations from #COP16Colombia concluded in Rome, with key decisions to drive the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework being discussed.

Topics included resource mobilization, the GBF monitoring framework, and financial mechanisms for implementing proposed policies.🌎

Read more about the decisions and outcomes here: 🔗https://www.cbd.int/doc/press/2025/pr-2025-02-27-cop16-en.pdf

📸Pam Chasek

#UnitedNations #Biodiversity #KMGBF

IPBES ES Anne Larigauderie met with @unbiodiversity ES Astrid Schomaker on the sidelines of the resumption of COP 16, which just wrapped up in Rome.

@‌IPBES welcomes the decisions agreeing on financing and indicators to meet the #KMGBF targets.