Rio Conventions Pavilion TV, CBD COP11 (18/10/2012) – Gustavo Fonseca, Head of Natural Resources at the Global Environment Facility, gives his take on negotiations from an economic perspective.

Fonseca recognises that the CBD negotiations are about far more than just money but asserts that financial muscle is important in achieving the Aichi targets on biodiversity.

However Fonseca emphasises that there are many projects that do not require massive funding and stresses that behind the scenes there are positive signs from negotiations, despite the European financial crisis.

Fonseca asserts that biodiversity needs to be mainstreamed in the development agenda and recognised as a central part of the international economy. He describes the loss of biodiversity in economic terms as the ‘liquidating of natural capital’ and stresses this is the type of thinking that is needed for nations to begin reforming their economies to prevent further environmental destruction.