UN biodiversity meet in Colombia: Pro-nature investments please

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. 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.

We cannot address any of these until we stop taking nature for granted and start investing more in 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 Paris pact target. Moreover, such investments not only improve our resilience to climate change; they also would help to prevent future pandemics.

As the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biodiversity holds deliberations in Cali, Colombia, we must remember that crises affecting nature also pose structural risks to the global economy, our 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 are discussing 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 we currently invest far too much in activities that harm nature and make our problems worse; we invest only one-third of what is needed to meet the 2030 targets for climate, biodiversity and land degradation. To scale up nature-positive investment, we need to do four things.