UK commits significant amount of climate finance on nature, biodiversity

LONDON, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday that Britain will commit at least 3 billion pounds (around 4.1 billion U.S. dollars) to climate change solutions that will protect and restore nature and biodiversity over five years.

Programs supported by the funding will include the flagship Blue Planet Fund for marine conservation; projects to maintain forests and tackle the illegal timber trade and deforestation; and initiatives to conserve habitats such as mangroves that protect communities from the impacts of climate change, according to the government.

Johnson made the announcement at the One Planet Summit.

"Obviously it's right to focus on climate change, obviously it's right to cut CO2 emissions, but we won't achieve a real balance with our planet unless we protect nature as well," said Johnson when addressing the summit.

The One Planet Summit was initiated by the United Nations, the World Bank and France in 2017, with a focus on global climate and environmental governance, with three editions held so far. The theme of this year's summit was biodiversity conservation. (1 British pound = 1.35 U.S. dollars)