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SDG 15 – Life on Land
KfW's commitment to biodiversity
Nature is both the origin and habitat of people, animals and plants. Healthy, diverse ecosystems provide us with air, water and raw materials of all types. They form the basis of our existence and are a prerequisite for economic development. This is why the SDGs are not just directed at people; only a symbiotic relationship between people and nature can ensure quality of life for all.
SDG 15 “Life on land” aims to protect endangered animal species and terrestrial ecosystems. The disappearance of forests must cease, and they should be sustainably managed and preserved. The international community also wants to end the expansion of deserts, loss of biodiversity and degradation of soil.
Biodiversity describes the diversity of species, ecosystems and habitats. But this variety is under threat. It is being lost at great speed through increased consumption of resources. This is destroying more and more habitats: only around 25% of the Earth's surface is free from significant human impact, with more than a third being used as arable or grazing land. At the same time, we continue to lose species: between 1970 and 2014, the world's population of wild animals – mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles – decreased by 60% on average. And according to projections from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), of an estimated eight million species, one million face extinction in the coming decades.
Germany is strongly committed to the conservation of biological diversity, and, through the work of KfW, is now one of the largest donors worldwide. In 2019, KfW committed almost EUR 508 million to land-based biodiversity projects. The total volume of all ongoing programmes is around EUR 2.6 billion. KfW cooperates not only with partner countries in this work, but also with major nature conservation organisations like the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and with non-governmental organisations like the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Frankfurt Zoological Society (ZGF). They jointly pursue the goal of protecting and preserving natural habitats as extensively as possible.
Learn more about KfW's cooperation with the IUCN
SDG 15 on the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) website (German only)