SDG 15 – Life on Land

How KfW is committed 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; the relationship between people, animals and nature must be symbiotic to ensure quality of life for all.

The two SDGs on life on land (SDG 15) and life below water (SDG 14), together with SDG 6 (drinking water) and SDG 13 (climate), are of central importance: without sustainable life on land and in water, human existence is not possible, nor is the achievement of all other sustainable development goals. This is why the international community has set itself the goal of humanity living ‘in harmony with nature’ again by the middle of the century. To this end, it adopted the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) in 2022 with 23 specific targets to be achieved by 2030. This is the only way to stop and reverse the historically unprecedented and dangerous loss of biodiversity.

Keeping nature intact to the greatest extent possible or restoring it is also very important for food security, for example, because birds and insects are needed for pollination of plants. However, pollinators are disappearing, and farmland diversity is also declining. Nine species, including rice, maize and wheat, now dominate global agriculture. However, diversity in farmland is important; it can make agriculture more resilient to pests and help to develop new varieties that may be better able to cope with the changing conditions caused by climate change.

Nature also plays a decisive role in climate protection. Forests, peatlands and soils are natural carbon sinks that can help to effectively reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. According to calculations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPCC and IPBES), plants and oceans naturally absorb around half of the carbon emitted by humans. When forests are cleared, not only are species and ecosystem services lost, but vast amounts of climate-damaging greenhouse gases are also released. Preserving biodiversity, protecting endangered animal species and terrestrial ecosystems, and no longer destroying forests, but managing them sustainably, therefore also have a vital benefit for the climate.

After all, nature is important for our health. In addition to the general recreational space that nature offers people, it is significant that the majority of all medicines, including cancer drugs, are derived from plants. The genetic diversity of an intact biodiversity makes it possible to safeguard it and research new remedies. On the other hand, the risk of new diseases also increases with the increasing loss of nature: Around 70% of all emerging infectious diseases like Ebola, Zika and influenza are zoonoses (diseases that are transmitted from animal to human and vice versa). According to IPBES figures, there are still around 1.7 million unidentified viruses in mammals and birds, of which a significant proportion could be transmissible to humans. As more intact ecosystems are destroyed, there are more opportunities for closer contact with these pathogens, which increases the likelihood of transmission.

Biodiversity is therefore vital (to survival) in many respects and must be preserved as a matter of urgency. At the moment, however, the opposite is true. Species loss is accelerating rapidly; today at least 10 to 100 times faster than without human intervention. Experts are already speaking of a new mass extinction. According to WWF calculations, the populations of animals studied have declined by 73% since 1970. And this loss continues unabated. According to IPBES projections, of an estimated eight million species, one million face extinction in the coming decades.

KfW is committed to reversing this trend, in line with the 2030 Agenda and the GBF. Conserving nature and protecting biodiversity is an issue of central importance for the future for humanity. Strictly speaking, several interconnected crises need to be solved at once: limiting climate change to a tolerable level and preserving biodiversity. In this way, hunger can be combated and food security and human health can be achieved.

An increasing number of animal and plant species are dying out. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List indicates that over 47,000 species worldwide are currently critically endangered. Without decisive action, this loss of species of geological dimensions will continue unchecked.

This makes it necessary to create and protect conservation areas, especially in “biodiversity hotspots” which are primarily found in the global south. According to the GBF, 30% of the earth's surface should be under nature conservation by 2030; currently just under 18% has been achieved on land. In order to designate more protected areas and protect the existing areas effectively and in line with the interests of the local population, additional resources are needed that can be used in a predictable manner.

KfW is working on this. It supports a range of nature conservation funds such as the Caucasus Nature Fund and the Community Conservation Fund of Namibia as well as several Conservation Trust Funds and international NGOs to identify new areas and to better manage existing conservation areas, for example in West Africa. This enables them to protect flora and fauna effectively while simultaneously ensuring that local people are sufficiently involved in using conservation areas.

One of KfW's declared aims is to involve private investors more than in the past. It can thus use the limited development cooperation funds to open up new sources of financing for conservation. It was for this reason that KfW on behalf of the German Federal Government set up the Legacy Landscapes Fund (LLF), which aims to help finance and thus preserve 30 important nature conservation areas in partner countries by 2030. The fund’s special feature is that, in addition to public donors, private actors such as charitable trusts and companies are also involved. This ensures that more funds can be mobilised for conservation than would otherwise have been the case. The LLF now permanently supports 145 protected areas on three continents with USD 1 million per year.

Forests fulfil a wide range of important ecological functions, are among the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world and provide essential ecosystem services. In rural parts of many poorer countries, forests are also a potential economic factor that ensures people's survival. People have been transforming areas of forest for millennia, mainly for agricultural purposes. In the recent past, however, this practice has taken on extremely threatening proportions, not least in view of climate change: Most recently, the deforestation rate was estimated at 10 million hectares per year.

Germany's major commitment to forest protection is essentially based on three pillars: the reduction of CO₂ emissions by avoiding deforestation (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, REDD+), forest and landscape restoration (FLR), and the promotion of so-called deforestation-free supply chains. KfW finances corresponding projects in all three areas on behalf of the German government.

It promotes the REDD approach, in which funds are only disbursed when CO₂ savings through forest conservation, sustainable use and combating deforestation is provided, in Colombia, for example.

KfW supports the sustainable management of existing forests, particularly in Asia and Latin America. The Indonesian-German forest programmes, for example, were developed to address the problem of deforestation and slash-and-burn. These programmes aim to promote sustainable forest management methods and the protection of natural habitats. In Brazil, too, KfW is promoting the management of such areas with the involvement of the local population. KfW supports the FLR approach, which combines environmental protection with the productive use of forests, in Madagascar for example.

Does forest protection work? Evaluation results

Alongside forest and nature conservation, new and more sustainable economic practices are needed to avoid further endangering natural resources. Agriculture in particular is considered a threat to biodiversity conservation – up to 80 % of global deforestation of tropical rainforests can be attributed to it. Consumption patterns – especially in the Global North – also need to change in order to reduce the pressure for land expansion, especially for agriculture. This requires incentives and capital.

KfW sees itself as a driving force in this regard; it is supporting this change in agriculture and use of resources with targeted programmes. For example, it promotes sustainable and agroecological cultivation and production methods in India, as various cultivation systems such as agroforestry systems or mixed crops contain significantly greater plant and animal diversity than monocultures. Soil and erosion control also supports the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functions at landscape level.

The eco.business Fund is a particularly innovative example of a transformation towards a ‘green economy’. KfW uses it to support deforestation-free, resource-conserving and biodiversity-friendly forms of production in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. Since it was established in 2014, the fund has helped to sustainably cultivate almost 1.2 million hectares of arable land and protect 440,000 hectares of land from deforestation.

Germany is strongly committed to the conservation of biological diversity and is one of the world's largest donors through KfW, among others. KfW takes care to follow an human rights-based approach and to involve Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP&LC), as their livelihoods depend heavily on nature. At the same time, they are particularly good “guardians” of nature. As set out in the GBF, this involvement takes the form of active participation in local decision-making or through complaint mechanisms so that they can contact someone if their concerns are not sufficiently taken into account. Recently, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity also established a permanent committee consisting of indigenous representatives.

In 2024, KfW Development bank provided new financing totalling more than EUR 1.1 billion, which is expected to contribute to achieving SDG 15. The financing agreements signed in 2024 are expected to contribute to the protection of over 95 million hectares of terrestrial and marine protected areas over the next few years. This corresponds to around 2.6 times the land area of Germany.

KfW cooperates not only with partner countries, 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 all jointly pursue the goal of protecting and preserving natural habitats as extensively as possible.

Portrait von Christiane Laibach, member of the Executive Board of KfW, in the Palmengarten Frankfurt

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