The Price of Priceless
We’re used to paying for the things we want and need — food, shelter, transport, education. But what about the things we value most? The ones we call priceless? Friendship. Love. Children. The absence of a price-tag doesn’t mean that they’re free. We pay for it with appreciation, feed it with kindness, and protect it with respect.
The return is often immeasurable, but real. What ties all these things together? That they rely on something even more fundamental: Life itself.
So, why wouldn’t we pay to protect life on the planet? We fund roads and hospitals without hesitation. We insure our homes. We build safety nets, support systems, infrastructure. Why not do the same for biodiversity — the mother of all infrastructures, the one that makes everything else possible?
If we truly value life, it’s time we started treating it that way.
Target 19 is detailed, academic, and also extremely important. The goal: to mobilize $200 billion for biodiversity per year by 2030 through diverse funding sources. Here’s a summary:
1. Increase International Support to developing nations — especially least-developed countries, small island states, and economies in transition — reaching $20 billion annually by 2025 and $30 billion by 2030.
2. Boost Domestic Funding by creating and implementing finance plans tailored to local needs and priorities.
3. Engage the Private Sector through blended finance, impact funds, and other mechanisms.
4. Innovate Financing with ecosystem service payments, green bonds, biodiversity credits, and benefit-sharing, — all with environmental and social safeguards.
5. Align Biodiversity and Climate Goals to maximize synergies between finance for nature and climate initiatives.
6. Empower Indigenous and Local Community, non-market approaches, and community-based resource management.
7. Ensure Effective Resource Use by improving efficiency, transparency, and effectiveness of financial resource management.
200 billion is a long way from priceless.
The world’s GDP is projected to exceed $100 trillion next year. This plan suggests that life itself should be worth at least 0.2% of that. It may not be enough. Regardless, it is an incredible bargain.
Increase all Financial Resources for Biodiversity
Substantially and progressively increase the level of financial resources from all sources, in an effective, timely and easily accessible manner, including domestic, international, public and private resources, in accordance with Article 20 of the Convention, to implement national biodiversity strategies and action plans, mobilizing at least $200 billion per year by 2030.