State of Finance for Nature report: Double financing for natural ecosystems by 2025 to deal with climate, biodiversity crises: UN report

Source: The post is based on the article “Double financing for natural ecosystems by 2025 to deal with climate, biodiversity crisis: UN report” published in Down To Earth on 4th December 2022

What is the News? 

The second edition of the State of Finance for Nature report has been released.

What is the State of Finance for Nature report?

Released by:  UN Environment Programme(UNEP) along with the Economics of Land Degradation initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification(UNCCD) and the European Commission.

Purpose: The report quantifies public and private finance flows to nature-based solutions (NbS) to tackle global challenges related to biodiversity loss, land degradation and climate change.  

What are Nature-based solutions(NbS)?

Nature-based solutions(NbS) are actions to protect, sustainably manage, or restore natural ecosystems that address societal challenges such as climate change, human health, food and water security, and disaster risk reduction effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits.

What are the key findings of the report related to NbS financing?

Finance flows to nature-based solutions(NbS) are currently US$154 billion per year. Under this, public funds make up 83% of the total and the private sector contributes approximately 17%.

This finance flow is less than half of the US$384 billion per year investment in NbS needed by 2025 and only a third of the investment needed by 2030 (US$484 billion per year) 

What are the recommendations given by the report?

Firstly, financing for NbS needs to be doubled to deal with multiple global crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation.

Secondly, there is a need for private investments in nature-based solutions. For this, private companies must create a sustainable supply chain, reduce activities that negatively impact climate and biodiversity, offset any unavoidable activities through high-integrity nature markets, pay for ecosystem services and invest in nature-positive activities.