Environmental leaders of 185 countries have agreed at the Global Environment Facility’s seventh assembly to launch an innovative new fund for biodiversity that will attract funding from governments, philanthropy and the private sector.

The new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund has been designed to mobilise and accelerate investment in the conservation and sustainability of wild species and ecosystems, whose health is under threat from wildfires, flooding, extreme weather, and human activity, including urban sprawl, according to a press statement issued by the Global Environment Facility on Thursday.

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The new fund will mobilise and disburse new and additional resources from public, private and philanthropic sources, with a focus on the sustainability of biodiversity and ecosystems, the statement said, adding that as much as 20 per cent of its resources will support Indigenous-led initiatives to protect and conserve biodiversity, Xinhua news agency reported.

It will also prioritise support for Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries, which will receive more than a third of the fund’s resources, the statement said.

“This shows the determination of the world community to implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and shows that the world is moving from agreement to action,” said David Cooper, acting executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The Global Environment Facility is a family of funds supporting developing countries’ action on inter-related environmental challenges, including biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution.

The Global Environment Facility assembly, a once-every-four-year gathering, has brought together 1,500 representatives from around the world to Vancouver, Canada, during August 22-26.