Investment trust insider on biodiversity – James Carthew: Governments are finally taking biodiversity seriously
Government action to address falling wildlife numbers is creating opportunities for some businesses, with tradeable biodiversity credits one incentive.
Last week, 22 May was the International Day for Biodiversity. There are ‘days’ for just about anything that you can think of (the 22nd was also World Goth Day, for example) but biodiversity is a topic that we ought to care a bit more about. The situation is dire, and fixing climate change – a cause to which many trillions of dollars are being dedicated – is only part of the solution.
There is something of the ‘frog in boiling water’ thing going on here, where, despite the obvious perils, most of us are paying little attention to the issue. For example, most of us of a certain age can vaguely remember that there used to be a lot more insects about when we were younger. With the aid of some volunteers, the Kent Wildlife Trust decided to measure it by looking at the number of insects hitting car numberplates each year. It reckons that from 2004 to 2023, insect numbers fell by 82.6% in England.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) puts together a Living Planet Report each year. It reckons that by 2022, global wildlife populations had fallen by 69% on average since 1970.
As with climate change, the UN is trying to galvanise countries to take action. Its COP16 on biological diversity will be held in Cali in Colombia later this year. The last conference in 2022 came up with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which – echoing the Paris Agreement on Climate Change – sets some goals for 2030 and 2050. Most governments, including that of the UK, have expressed support, although the goals are not legally binding.
What the UK has done is… read more here