http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/economic-crisis-casts-shadow-over-biodiversity-talks/551489 The global economic crisis cast its shadow over UN talks that closed in India on Saturday after two weeks of intense wrangling on funding to reverse the decline of Earth’s natural resources. A deal was finally signed a day later than planned, after a succession of late-night sessions that pitted rich countries reticent to fork out more cash as they try to balance the books, against poor ones. Several traditional donor countries cited the world’s economic troubles as a factor in the talks, held under the auspices of the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). “Countries like us in difficult financial times are making big sacrifices with taxpayers’ money. We want to make sure... that we are not leaving ourselves open to putting greater burden on our taxpayers,” British Environment Minister Richard Benyon told AFP on the penultimate day of the negotiations. In the end, the deadlock was broken and developed states pledged to double by 2015 the aid they provide to poor countries for biodiversity projects, compared to a baseline of average annual aid in the period 2006-2010. No figures were mentioned, but observer groups believed the new annual figure would amount to about $10 billion (8 billion euros) per year — just 10 percent of what global consumers spent on chocolate last year. Some negotiators, especially in the European Union, hailed the deal as a symbolic breakthrough in tough times. “In the context of the financial crisis, this is a good deal,” French Environment Minister Delphine Batho told AFP.
