Biodiversity loss, rapid deforestation and forest degradation appear to be some of the root causes behind the emergence of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19. While addressing the challenge of forest and landscape restoration and biodiversity conservation worldwide, reducing health issues and pandemic risks can also be tackled, and it is critical to think about how financing innovations can be part of the solution. While Green Bonds are emerging as sustainable finance instruments, it seems very timely to assess to which extent they can support biodiversity and sustainable land use investments in this current context and in the future.
To address this question, the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX) worked with the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) to develop the following paper. The proposals in this paper will serve to inform: i) the necessary debates on sustainable biodiversity finance in the context of the Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and related negotiations, which will occur between 2020 and 2021 under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); and ii) the resource mobilization efforts required to achieve the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration beginning in 2021.
