Rich countries need to spend more to protect the global environment

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has said that the rich world's record on protecting the global environment is appalling and that $25bn a year more will be needed to establish a proper working system of protected areas for wildlife.

In 1992, 200 countries signed up to the Convention on Biological Diversity which commits rich countries to helping to fund conservation in poorer ones, and joint work by the RSPB and Cambridge University has calculated that a global network of protected areas could deliver goods + services worth between $4400bn + $5200bn annually, yet internationally governments are failing to live up to their promises...

Alistair Gammell told BBC News Online: "It's appalling. All the rich countries are foot-dragging: they are not giving money for conservation.

"The UK is probably worse than most. It provides money through the Darwin Initiative, about £6m ($11.1m), and that's almost the end of it"

Mr. Gammell also stated that "There is not point having a protected area plan without the money to fund it. Decisive action must be taken by world leaders now to secure a future for global biodiversity and provide the resources to protect it, as well as an agreed means of tackling longer-term problems such as misguided economic policies and the destructive use of natural resources"