An elephant is standing in front of the tree. On the left handside is the icon of SDG 15.

    SDG 15 – Life on Land

    Why everyone needs an intact nature

    Nature forms our basis of life. Almost everything we humans need for our existence comes from nature. Healthy and diverse ecosystems supply us with air, water, food, clothing and raw materials of all kinds. Many of our medicines also originate in nature. For example, three-quarters of all antibiotics and two-thirds of all cancer drugs come from there. Recreation and health are also closely linked to nature.

    The economy is also heavily dependent on them. According to the World Economic Forum, more than half of global GDP depends in some way on nature. This can be water for cooling for industrial processes, wood for furniture production, or it can be cocoa beans for the production of chocolate. Particularly affected are German and European companies (beyond the financial sector), which, according to the European Central Bank, are two-thirds dependent on functioning ecosystems. And banks themselves are also heavily dependent on nature: according to ECB findings, three quarters of all loans in the euro area go to companies that are heavily dependent on at least one ecosystem service.

    Nature as a buffer against global warming

    In addition, the further course of global warming is closely linked to intact nature and whether natural areas such as forests, peatlands and soils can be preserved or even regenerated. This is because they store the climate-damaging CO2 naturally, which is why they are also referred to as CO2 sinks or as "nature-based solutions". Biodiversity is therefore a crucial factor in the fight against climate change.

    The more diverse ecosystems are, the more reliably they can provide all these services. Biodiversity is something like the engine room of nature. It ensures, for example, that plants are pollinated, seeds are spread, forests are regenerated or soils are kept fertile. In a complex interplay, the species form a web of life that must not become brittle.

    Dramatic decline

    But that is exactly what is happening. The decline in natural habitats and biodiversity has now reached dramatic proportions and has never been so great in human history: it ranges from the loss of birds and mammals to the loss of various ferns and fir trees to the spread of deserts.

    According to the IPBES, one in eight million estimated species is threatened with extinction in the next few decades. According to scientific calculations, the extinction rate is now 10 to 100 times higher than in the last 10 million years. We are in the sixth mass extinction of Earth’s history, but with a slight difference from the past: this time, man is the driving force.

    New targets for 2030

    In order to counteract this, the international community set itself new targets for 2030 with the "Global Biodiversity Framework" (GBF) in 2022. This includes, for example, placing 30% of the earth's surface under protection and restoring just as much degenerated land. At the 2024 Conference of the Parties, these objectives were clarified and supplemented by new financing mechanisms and an international upgrade of indigenous peoples and local communities (IP&LC). The latter are now firmly represented at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. This provides a sound political framework, and now it is implementation that matters.

    KfW is committed to reversing the trend in nature loss, in line with the 2030 Agenda and the GBF. Preserving ecosystems, halting the loss of biodiversity, using land and forests sustainably and combating desertification, as provided for in SDG 15, is a question of humanity’s future.

    Germany is strongly committed to SDG 15 and is one of the world’s largest donors through KfW. KfW takes a human rights-based approach and also ensures that IP&LC are included, because they are important "guardians" of nature. This is done, for example, by actively participating in decisions on the ground or setting up complaint mechanisms.

    In 2024, KfW Development Bank provided new financing of more than EUR 1.1 billion, which is expected to contribute to achieving SDG 15. The financing contracts signed in 2024 are expected to contribute to the protection of more than 95 million hectares of terrestrial and marine protected areas in the coming years. This corresponds well to two and a half times the area of Germany.

    To this end, KfW works not only with partner countries, but also with nature conservation organisations and, increasingly, the private sector. The common goal is to protect natural habitats and use them sustainably.

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