Developed countries urged to ‘step up’ contributions to global nature fund

Canada and UK only donor countries to contribute so far, leaving scheme short of $40m to formally launch

Developed countries have been urged to contribute to a new nature fund after it was left undercapitalised by $40m (32m), receiving money from just two donors.

At the Cop15 biodiversity summit in December, where countries agreed this decade's biodiversity targets that included aims to protect 30% of Earth, governments agreed to the creation of a fund to help developing countries meet the deal's aims, which included a target to provide $200bn for nature a year by 2030.