The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) wants the protection of nature to be included in the global climate agenda, since it is an “integral part of the development” of the region, the organization said at the UN conference on Biodiversity (COP15) held in Montréal (Canada).
During an event held this Friday, the bank reiterated its commitment to Latin America and the Caribbean to increase its “positive financing for nature”, in line with its role as the main multilateral development bank promoting the protection of biodiversity in the countries of the region.
The event was attended by Juan Pablo Bonilla, manager of the IDB Climate Change and Sustainable Development sector; Federico Basañes (IDB); Mariana Sarmiento, executive manager of Terrasos; Slav Gachevmanaging director of The Nature Conservancy; Dominic Jermey, Director General of the UK Development Office; Y Daniela Ilona Manuschevichon behalf of the Minister of the Environment of Chile.
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Bonilla highlighted that the IDB has developed a Biodiversity Action Planwhich will be presented to the bank’s board of directors in the first quarter of 2023, “to incorporate the different results of the negotiations of Montréal”, from where a global agreement has to come out to preserve the biodiversity of the planet.
In statements to EFE, Bonilla pointed out that “the main message of the IDB Group for COP15 is the importance of integrating biodiversity, nature, into the climate agenda as part of the solution” to climate change.
“Although climate change has a high impact on our ecosystems, biodiversity is also part of the solution for build resilience. So they are two agendas that have many common points, ”he added.
Bonilla announced that the IDB Biodiversity Action Plan Its main purpose is to link natural capital and biodiversity as part of the bank’s operations and to support the countries of the region to incorporate the importance of nature into their planning and decisions.
The IDB already has examples of this work in the region.
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In Chile, it is working with the Government, the Central Bank of Chilethe Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Environment in the importance of including natural capital in their national accounts, and supporting them to create a natural capital committee in an integral way in the country.
In Colombia, the bank is carrying out a similar task with the National Planning Department. In Costa Rica, the IDB supports blue solutions as part of its National Development Plan. And in the Caribbean, the bank participates in “Roofs to Reefs”, the national resilience program of Barbados. Bonilla explained that in the same way that the agency supports “different countries in the region for the issuance of bonds linked to climate issues”, in the future the bank wants to do the same “for issues related to biodiversity.”
“And something fundamental is going to be debt refinancing, which was discussed a lot at COP27 on climate change but which is closely linked to the discussions we are having here in the COP15”, he continued.
pretty He ended by highlighting the symbolism of the IDB’s presence at COP15.
“We want to support our countries and our private clients in the different challenges that will arise, not only from the commitments of the COP27 of climate change, but of the COP15 of Biodiversity”, he explained.
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“Now, this is based on the reality of each country and on the demand that each country makes of the bank. Part of the comparative advantage of the bank is not only our presence in the region, but also that the governments, the private sector of the region, see us as a strategic partner to accompany them in this process”, he concluded.
