BREAKING - The worst conservation fund ever? The Tropical Forests Forever Facility is an investment fund launched at #COP16Colombia where wealthy nations, such as the United States, Norway, Germany, France, Great Britain, and the UAE will loan - not donate - money for 20y.... 1/7 and get a fixed annual return of 5,5%; Global South countries might get conservation funding IF the fund returns more than the 5,5%, to compensate them for their intact old-growth, mature or restored forests, at $4 per hectare. 2/7
bsky.app/profile/mongab…

1/4 If you thought offsetting within UK's #biodiversity unit market was only going to take place in the UK, think again:
"The government’s white paper on international development set our intention to support the growth of high-integrity #carbon and nature markets to unlock... 2/4 ...a global estimated potential of $40 billion per year of private finance for low- and middle income countries by 2030.
Planned to launch in the coming months, the Voluntary Carbon and Nature Markers (VCNM) consultation will explore

What's not to like about billionnaire philanthropists doing conservation? A lot actually. First, they promote the privatisation of land / the "fortress conservation" model, instead of tighter environmental regulations curbing destruction. 1/5
ft.com/content/2bd1c5… Secondly, this contributes to diverting the debate away from curbing our own destruction and towards restoration/offsetting, despite the poor track record of the later. 2/5

Breaking: the European Commission just included #biodiversity #offsetting in its #taxonomy of "green" economic activity, and obfuscated this inclusion into yesterday's delegated act behind anti-democratic confusing legalese. 1/6
finance.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2… An earlier draft of the delegated act included the following language: « 6.1. The conservation activity does not only serve the purpose of offsetting the impact of another economic activity.”
This was already some very twisted language to say offsetting is included. 2/6

Institutional capture via language: what do UNDP, ECB, OECD, EU Commission & an environmentally minded MEP have in common? They all endorsed consciously or not a contested reconceptualisation of #nature & human life at last week' #beyondgrowth event beyond-growth-2023.eu/lecture/focus-…… 1/11 @spietikainen started the panel by stating: "let's assume (..) that we all agree already that GDP is flawed and not the right measure and that we need a new metering system that includes the planetary boundaries, the #naturalcapital and the social wellbeing of humans." 2/11

Nature's financialisation lobby latest disingenuous narratives and tactics involve pushing governments to help create demand for #biodiversity #offset markets, and dropping the #offset claim in appearance only, in order to reduce legal liability: 1/11
uploads-ssl.webflow.com/623a362e6b1a3e… The latest report from the taskforce on nature markets lobby group openly advocates for the "imposition of a nature / #biodiversity tax and trading system" as a "potential legal enablers for scaling biodiversity credit #markets." 2/11

1/14 BREAKING -The European Commission just published a draft #taxonomy's delegated act for biodiversity - i.e. its list of the economic activities that fight biodiversity loss in the EU - that includes debunked #biodiversity #offsetting 2/14 The list includes so far 2 activities, with more to come in the future:
1. Conservation and restoration of habitats, ecosystems and species;
2. The provision of short-term tourism accommodation

Beware the disingenuous narrative from #biodiversity financiers ahead of #COP15. It goes like this:
1. We need to integrate #nature into our economies to protect it (except no one has ever demonstrated that we do, & history of conservation shows that we don’t) 1/6 2. Markets on nature are happening anyway, we just need to ensure good governance (they are not happening anyway, private lobbies are actively promoting them, and their conceptual issues go way beyond governance) 2/6
greenfinanceobservatory.org/wp-content/upl…

BREAKING!
A UK lobby coalition just published a report for the creation of markets for #nature, on #habitats for wildlife, #carbon sequestration, #nutrient reduction credits trading aka #water pollution trading, #air pollution and #flood mitigation. 1/6
irp.cdn-website.com/82b242bb/files… "I look forward to working with the Coalition to make these markets a reality" said British MP Helen Whately, exchequer secretary to the Treasury. The UK govt has indeed committed to working with this coalition to scale up environmental mkts in the UK
carbon-pulse.com/162013/?utm_so…
2/6

BREAKING! The European Commission just confirmed that it promotes "like for like or better" #biodiversity #offsetting, as part of #NatureBasedSolutions!
Why is it major news? Thread 1/11
europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document… Under this approach, the destruction of a habitat for flamingos in Spain could be considered to be offset by the restoration of a habitat for bats in Greece, as long as you claim that it is "better." 2/11

1/5 New @IPBES @IPCC report promotes #NatureBasedSolutions, carbon and biodiversity #offsetting and #InclusiveWealth, the new neoliberal metric putting a price on nature and human life, but framed as a sustainable metric complementing GDP.

#Dasgupta
ipbes.net/sites/default/… 2/5 "Where #NatureBasedSolutions are used as
carbon #offsets, they are most effective when applied
subject to strict conditions and exclusions"
=> In case anyone had any doubt left that #NatureBasedSolutions included offsetting

Are #NatureBasedSolutions part of the solution or part of the pb?
While the concept was originally interesting there is growing evidence that it has been hijacked by the proponents of neoliberal financialisation of nature aka #naturalcapital & offsetting.
Below are 6 exhibits 1/7 2/7
Resolution 059 of the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress that defined NbS stated 'it is IUCN’s position that biodiversity offsets can contribute to positive conservation outcomes (...) it could be appropriate for the offset to conserve a different kind of biodiversity'

1/11 CBD Post-2020 biodiversity framework: the updated zero draft unfortunately seems to confirm a strong focus on doomed financialization and market-based approaches to biodiversity.
#naturalcapital #offsetting
cbd.int/doc/c/3064/749… 2/11 the draft calls to value biodiversity and ecosystem services and "internalize the value of nature."
It also calls for “net improvements by 2050,” “net” being usually the codeword for offsetting, as is the case with Net Zero emission targets & No Net Loss / Net Gain policies.

1/3 Another key topic at the #COP25 is the push for #NatureBasedSolutions. These are projects to protect or restore natural ecosystems, which in itself is good. The issue is that most often these projects are financed by offset mechanisms and foster natural capital approaches 2/3 = putting a price on some parts of nature and trading them. Even though it has been shown that it is not possible to comprehensively measure, let alone meaningfully value biodiversity and ecosystems. greenfinanceobservatory.org/2019/05/23/sec…