Biodiversity funding gap leaves EU natural treasures vulnerable

The report, unveiled at the COP 17 conference in Yerevan, reveals that while 250 million hectares of land are currently under protection, marine and freshwater environments remain severely neglected with only 11 million hectares safeguarded. Experts warn that restoring just 15 percent of priority areas could prevent 60 percent of projected species extinctions, yet the pace of implementation remains dangerously slow.

Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, noted that nations are failing to restore nature at the required scale. This sentiment is echoed by Jutta Paulus, a German Greens MEP, who identified chronic underfunding as the primary barrier to economic stability and food security. While the summit concludes with the introduction of the Yerevan Pathway, the absence of new financial commitments suggests that the 30 percent protection target for 2030 remains elusive.

Within the European Union, the situation highlights a persistent disconnect between policy and practice. Although 26 percent of land was protected as of 2024, marine protection stands at less than 14 percent. Nicolas Fournier of Oceana warned that public investment is being squandered if governments continue to fund restoration while simultaneously permitting destructive activities like overfishing to persist within protected zones.