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Despite increased conservation efforts, biodiversity contin¬ues to decline, while international targets to conserve biodiversity remain out of reach. Mobilising financial resources for conservation investments is considered crucial to addressing the direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity loss and to setting incentives for conserving biodiversity. Aid is, and will likely continue to be, the main source of funding biodiversity conservation in developing countries. Mobilising domestic funds still presents a challenge to many develop¬ing countries although some domestic budgets for bio¬diversity show upward trends. Donor countries have repeated¬ly committed to increasing funds to support con¬servation measures in developing countries but the modest achievements of international conservation efforts have created doubts with regard to its effectiveness. However, research shows that aid can play a crucial role in biodiversity conservation in developing countries. Having said that, aid needs to be better aligned with biodiversity strategies and to aim at mainstreaming. The main messages of this Briefing Paper are as follows: The trend of increased biodiversity aid must continue to address the funding gap, in particular in underfunded biodiversity-rich countries. According to estimations, between USD 150 billion and USD 440 billion per year is needed to conserve biodiversity. Biodiversity-rich countries in particular are significantly underfunded and face high biodiversity loss rates. In these countries, domestic budgets are not sufficient by far; hence biodiversity aid needs to be increased. Besides aid, financial resources from other sources (e.g. domestic, private) also need to be mobilised. Biodiversity aid must support the implementation of national biodiversity strategies, implementing the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and must foster the mainstreaming of biodiversity considerations into other sectors (e.g. agriculture, trade). Biodiversity strategies and the mainstreaming of biodiversity considerations are seen as key instruments in fostering biodiversity conservation. Increases in aid marked as targeting biodiversity as a “significant” objective (meaning prime objectives other than biodiversity conservation) indicate that biodiversity has been increasingly mainstreamed. The effectiveness of biodiversity aid must be improved. To better assess the effectiveness of bio-diversity-related aid, an adequate quantification of needs (i. e. frequent and consistent assessment of the biodiversity status across countries) and expenditures (i. e. comprehensive tracking of biodiversity funding with a consistent methodology) is required.

Trotz zunehmender Schutzbemühungen nimmt die biologische Vielfalt weltweit ab, während internationale Biodiversitätsziele unerreichbar bleiben. Die Mobilisierung finanzieller Ressourcen gilt als Voraussetzung, um den direkten und indirekten Treibern des Verlustes biologischer Vielfalt entgegenzuwirken und gleichzeitig Schutzanreize zu schaffen. Entwicklungsfinanzierung ist heute und wahrscheinlich auch in Zukunft die Hauptfinanzierungsquelle für den Schutz der Biodiversität in Entwicklungsländern. Die Mobilisierung nationaler Mittel stellt für viele Entwicklungsländer noch immer eine Herausforderung dar, obwohl einige Länder zunehmend eigene Mittel in den Schutz der biologischen Vielfalt investieren. Die Geber haben sich wiederholt dazu verpflichtet, ihre Zusagen für Biodiversitätsschutz in Entwicklungsländern zu erhöhen. Die bescheidenen Erfolge haben allerdings Zweifel an deren Wirksamkeit aufkommen lassen. Trotzdem zeigt die Forschung, dass Entwicklungsfinanzierung für den Schutz der biologischen Vielfalt in Entwicklungsländern eine entscheidende Rolle spielen kann. Dazu muss diese allerdings besser mit den nationalen Biodiversitätsstrategien in Entwicklungsländern in Einklang gebracht und auch in anderen Sektoren ( mainstreaming ) berücksichtigt werden. Die Hauptbotschaften dieser Analyse und Stellungnahme lauten: – Es muss weiterhin mehr internationale Unterstützung im Bereich Biodiversität zur Verfügung gestellt werden, um insbesondere in unterfinanzierten biodiversitätsreichen Ländern die Finanzierungslücke zu schließen. Schätzungen zufolge werden jährlich zwischen 150 und 440 Mrd.USD für den Erhalt der Biodiversität benötigt. Besonders Länder mit einer hohen Biodiversität sind deutlich unterfinanziert. In diesen Ländern sind die nationalen Mittel nicht ausreichend und die internationale Unterstützung muss erhöht werden. Neben der klassischen Entwicklungsfinanzierung müssen auch andere Finanzierungsquellen (z.B. nationale, private) genutzt werden. – Die internationale Entwicklungszusammenarbeit muss die Umsetzung nationaler Biodiversitätsstrategien im Einklang mit der Biodiversitäts-Konvention unterstützen. Zudem muss sie die Berücksichtigung der Biodiversität auch in anderen Sektoren ( mainstreaming ), wie z.B. Landwirtschaft und Handel, fördern. Biodiversitätsstrategien und die durchgängige Berücksichtigung der biologischen Vielfalt in anderen Sektoren sind wichtige Schutzinstrumente. Ein Anstieg der Entwicklungsfinanzierung, die den Schutz der Biodiversität neben anderen Zielen als ein „wesentliches“ Ziel verfolgt, macht deutlich, dass Biodiversitätsanliegen zunehmend Berücksichtigung finden. – Die Wirksamkeit der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit im Bereich Biodiversität muss verbessert werden. Um die Effektivität der Unterstützung zu beurteilen, ist eine angemessene Quantifizierung des Bedarfs (d.h. häufige, konsequente Beurteilung des Biodiversitätsstatus der einzelnen Länder) und der Ausgaben (d.h. umfassende, methodologisch einheitliche Nachverfolgung der Finanzierungszusagen) nötig.

This paper analyses the past and present efforts by the German government at the federal level and its 16 federal states to contribute towards ongoing academic and policy debates on translating the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development into action. The paper applies the concept of “policy coherence for sustainable development” (PCSD) as a means to assess the country’s efforts and performance to date in promoting sustainable development at home and beyond its borders. PCSD features as a separate target in the 2030 Agenda (SDG 17.3) and, through its emphasis on joined-up decision-making, is considered one of the key means to implement the new and transformative agenda. In Germany, federal ministries function relatively independently from one another, with the Chancellery only enjoying a finite amount of power that can be used to bring them together. Even more challenging is the coordination between the federal and state (Länder) levels. Germany’s efforts towards translating the 2030 Agenda into action thus need to find the right balance between using the opportunities provided by the transformative nature of the 2030 Agenda and the specific governance advantages and challenges that characterise the country as one of the largest federal republics in the world. Successfully realising the agenda’s goals at home and abroad thus requires Germany to capitalise on institutional processes that have proved their worth over time, but also introduce new reforms and approaches. In particular, the German federal government needs to ensure the “top-down” initiative that lies within its own powers as well as strongly support and encourage “bottom-up” action by the states, cities, local communities as well as different societal actors.

"China's rising energy demands that are required for its booming economy have made the country one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. The Chinese building sector substantially contributes to the country's CO2emissions. Chinese policy makers have realized that enhancing energy efficiency in buildings (EEB) is a promising approach with regard to combining further economic growth with less energy consumption and environmental impact. They have enacted a wide range of policies to foster energy efficiency within the building sector. While the policies can theoretically unfold a great energy saving potential, their implementation has been weak so far. This study analyzes the existing policies and measures in place in order to promote EEB and examines promoting factors as well as barriers for the implementation of EEB policies. The study comes to the conclusion that the determinants of successful EEB policy implementation in China arise in the fields: legal environment and enforcement, economic parameters for investment, informational and lifestyle aspects as well as the specific organization of the value chain in the housing sector." (author's abstract)

"Long recognized as a key element for successful implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the issue of access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing has, in recent years, moved from a side event to the centre stage of international environmental law-making. The UNU-IAS Biodiplomacy Initiative is working to support effective international ABS governance through policy research, outreach activities, and capacity development."