Investments in nature will decide world’s future

It is easy to think of humans as existing separately from nature. But the greatest threats to humanity come from crises affecting nature, not least climate change, biodiversity loss, and rampant pollution. The world cannot address any of these issues until nature is stopped being taken for granted and more investments are made to protect it."Nature-positive” investments in marine conservation, sustainable land management, water security, and afforestation could deliver around 30% of the emissions abatement needed to limit global warming to 1.5° Celsius – the target enshrined in the Paris climate agreement. Moreover, such investments not only improve global resilience to climate change; these would also help to prevent future pandemics.Ahead of the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Cali, Colombia, this month, the world needs to remember that the crises affecting nature also pose structural risks to the global economy, collective well-being and prosperity, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Fully 55% of global GDP is highly or moderately dependent on nature.In Cali, delegates from nearly 200 countries will discuss how to accelerate action to protect 30% of the planet’s land and maritime areas, reduce pollution, and restore degraded ecosystems by 2030.One of the key obstacles to meeting these ambitious targets is financing. Not only do nations currently invest far too much in activities that harm nature and make the problems worse; only one-third of what is needed is invested to meet the 2030 targets for climate, biodiversity, and land degradation.To scale up nature-positive investment, the world needs to do four things. First, more effective public-private partnerships between countries and public development banks need to be built, as well as with nature organisations, companies, and private-sector financial institutions.This would help de-risk investments, prepare projects, and deliver impact at scale for climate, nature, and inclusive economic development.Second, there is a need to revive and mainstream regenerative practices and stewardship of biodiversity, particularly in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors.Third, there must be common principles, standards, and disclosure mechanisms to track nature-positive finance and its impact, and to disclose more information on the nature-related footprints, dependencies, and risk exposure of companies and financial institutions.Finally, to take nature into consideration in all policies and investment decisions, the flow of financing to activities that are harmful to nature must be decreased.Multilateral development banks will play a key role in scaling up green investments. Institutions like the European Investment Bank are already stepping up support for the protection, restoration, and sustainable use of nature with the launch of common principles for tracking nature-positive finance. Such information is essential for measuring and incorporating nature into multilateral lenders’ operations, as well as informing other investors about what constitutes a nature-positive investment. Partnerships and joint efforts to put these principles into practice are ongoing.Nations urgently needs to reduce the flow of finance to activities that harm nature.Doing so is central to overcoming the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.