Excerpt from The Guardian AU. Read the full article here.
The [Global Nature Positive] summit comes as the government is attempting to win support in parliament for legislation that would define “nature positive” and create an environment protection agency.
The 30 by 30 Alliance, a group of conservation, land management and scientific experts, said financing for nature protection and restoration from all sources must increase dramatically if Australia was to meet its targets of protecting 30% of land and ocean by the end of the decade in a meaningful way.
The alliance’s Jason Lyddieth said funding was the “crucial piece” missing from the Australian government’s claim that it was leading the way of the environment. He said the Albanese government allocated 0.1% of its spending to nature. Along with other campaigners and scientists, he said this should be closer to 1%.
It should include $5bn for the establishment of a fund to buy and protect land of high biodiversity importance, he said. “If just 1% of federal spending was dedicated to protecting nature we would be well on the way to stopping extinctions and ensuring nature is healthy for future generations. The public supports this too,” Lyddieth said.
The Biodiversity Council said a “first-pass assessment” had found the Australian government spent about 50 times more subsidising activities that damaged the environment – including clearing and degradation of nature for mining, agriculture, native forest logging and road construction – than on helping biodiversity.