Yerevan, Armenia, where the UN Biodiversity Conference COP17 has just wrapped up, sent a clear message: the world has set its nature goals, and now it has to deliver them.
Countries have agreed to protect 30% of land and sea and restore 30% of degraded areas by 2030. At COP17, governments took stock of progress. Most have set their targets, but the work on the ground needs to speed up.
The European Commission says it is focused on closing that gap. In Europe, support is under way for Member States preparing their national restoration plans, while the EU's nature laws are being checked to make sure they remain fit for purpose. Internationally, the EU is pushing for transparent progress tracking, funding that reaches the communities that need it most, and an end to subsidies that harm ecosystems.
Money is the common thread. The EU has launched a new coalition, Friends of Credits for Nature and Biodiversity, to build support for tools that channel private investment into conservation. And with the new Climate Resilience Framework, investing in nature is recognised as one of the most cost-effective ways to prepare for a changing climate.
A river that pays for its own protection
So what does this look like in practice? At COP17, a case from northern Italy showed one answer. The LIFE Brenta 2030 project is one of the learning sites of the BIOFIN-EU project, which tests how new ways of financing can help protect and restore nature across Europe.
The Brenta river runs for about 70 kilometres through 15 municipalities. It is also a vital source of drinking water for around 1.5 million people in the Veneto region. But heavy water use has lowered groundwater levels, and farming, gravel extraction and recreation put pressure on wildlife and habitats.
The local solution was simple in principle: those who use water help pay to protect it. The environmental cost of drinking-water supply is now included in the water bill, creating a steady, fair source of funding for nature. As a first step, around one million euros of measures to protect the river and its habitats were built into the local water plan, and the national regulator approved the tariff, a first for Italy. Management of the area's protected nature site was also entrusted to the local water authority, again a first.
The method behind it is clear and repeatable: map the pressures on nature, choose nature-based solutions that prevent them, and include their cost in the tariff.
Why it matters
The Brenta project shows that restoring nature does not have to wait for new money from far away. It can be financed locally, fairly and for the long term, benefiting clean water, resilient communities and wildlife at once. As COP17 closes, the challenge is to turn good examples like this one into everyday practice, across Europe and beyond.
This article is part of the dissemination work of the BIOFIN-EU project, which explores how finance can help bring nature back. Funded by the European Union (GA No 101135476). Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the EU nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.