The largest barrier to locally led biodiversity action, and full participation for all marginalised groups is access to truly inclusive and gender-responsive biodiversity finance. It is estimated that only 10% of all climate and biodiversity finance reaches the local level, with very little targeting both climate or biodiversity objectives and inclusion, women’s rights or Indigenous people. Overall, there is not enough biodiversity funding available; the funding that is available is not flowing to the local level; and the funding is not leading to fair and equitable outcomes for all of society. Long-term, predictable financing with flexibility to adapt to local contexts is needed to deliver lasting impact. Current economic systems do not value biodiversity itself enough, but also do not value local experience or knowledge.
Progress has been made within the finance mechanisms to incorporate gender responsive and inclusive concepts and actions into project designs and programme directions, but there is still a need to bolster implementation at the national and local levels. There needs to be a push from governments to require it from their funding contributions, and capacity building and monitoring for the recipients of the funding. A good example of targeted, thematic funding is the USAID-funded, IUCN-implemented Resilient, Inclusive and Sustainable Environments (RISE) grants challenge to support partnerships between environmental organisations, community-based organisations and leaders, and organisations with experience addressing gender-based violence.
