The Australian government spends more money on activities that harm biodiversity than those that protect biodiversity, a new study suggests.
Australia is a biodiversity hotspot, home to more than two-thirds of the world’s marsupials and a high rate of endemic species, but the country has suffered significant species extinctions since European arrival.
Under Target 18 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), Australia’s government agreed to identify spending that harms the country’s plants, animals and fungi by 2025, and reduce it by 2030. However, the government has yet to release such estimates, so a team of researchers did it themselves.
“The urgency of the 2030 reform deadline, and the ongoing deterioration of Australia’s environment, made it clear that this work couldn’t wait,” lead author Paul Elton of Australian National University told Mongabay by email.
The study analyzed the federal government’s 2022-2023 budget using a method recommended by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It identified subsidies in the form of payments and tax concessions that may be harmful to biodiversity. Experts and collaborators from the Australian Biodiversity Council then ranked the impacts from those subsidies on biodiversity.
The researchers found that between 2022 and 2023, Australia’s government spent A$26.3 billion ($18.6 billion) — or 1.1% of the country’s gross domestic product — on subsidies for activities believed to cause at least a medium level of harm to biodiversity. This stands in sharp contrast with the current spending on biodiversity conservation, estimated by the Biodiversity Council at less than A$0.8 billion ($0.6 billion) per year.
The bulk of the harmful subsidies identified in the report were for fossil fuel extraction and use (A$14.1 billion, or $10 billion). Transportation infrastructure accounted for an additional (A$8.5 billion, or $6 billion). Harmful subsidies were also identified in agriculture, fisheries, and forestry.
The more than A$26 billion in spending is a conservative estimate due to data limitations, and that’s only federal spending; it doesn’t account for subsidies from state and territory governments.
A representative with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) told Mongabay by email that “The Australian Government continues to make investments and take actions to halt and reverse the decline of biodiversity, this includes working with all levels of government and parts of society to drive improvements in nature.” They note that the total budgeted spending for the environment in the DCCEEW portfolio from 2025-2026 to 2028-2029 is A$10.1 billion ($7.1 billion).
The report authors suggest that prioritizing fiscal reforms across the economy could help Australia meet its biodiversity targets. However, they caution that reforms must be implemented in a fair and just way that considers affected communities and industries.
“Australia can and should play a leading role in demonstrating how a wealthy, megadiverse nation transforms its fiscal policy to support rather than erode biodiversity,” Elton said.
Banner image: Red kangaroos (Osphranter rufus). Image © Richard Crook via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0).
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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