Finance deals announced during UN Ocean Conference
LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - The third U.N. Ocean Conference in France last week yielded a number of financial deals and money pledges to help protect the seas, although the gap between funding and the estimated annual need of $175 billion remains large.
Below are a selection of the initiatives announced during the week:
A group of development banks including the European Investment Bank and Asian Development Bank said they planned to invest 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) by the end of the decade to help prevent plastic pollution reaching the sea.
The Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) said it will invest $2.5 billion between 2025 and 2030 in investments aimed at protecting the oceans and supporting sustainable marine economic activities.
French development bank AFD and the World Bank helped mobilise 119 million euros in Guinea to improve the living conditions of coastal and rural communities in the face of climate change.
The AFD provided an additional 2 million euros to extend work on preserving Mediterranean coastal ecosystems in North Africa until 2029.
A total of 1.8 million euros were allocated to help strengthen Marine Protected Areas in the Mediterranean and Costa Rica.
Investment firm Swen Capital Partners said it had raised 160 million euros for its SWEN Blue Ocean 2 fund and said it was targeting 300 million euros for the world's largest ocean impact fund focused on start-ups looking to support ocean biodiversity.
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