UN Report Calls For Nature-based Bolutions By 2025 To Deal With Global Crises

By Sarauniya g Usman, Abuja

Climate, biodiversity, and land degradation goals will be out of reach unless investments into nature-based solutions quickly ramp up to USD 384 billion/year by 2025, more than double of the current USD 154 billion/year.

According to a Reports made available to Newsmen revealed that Nature-negative flows from public sources, which are 3 to 7 times larger than investments into nature-based solutions, need to be phased out, repurposed or reformed.

The reports says,private capital only represents 17% of total investments into nature-based solutions. This will have to rise by several orders of magnitude in the coming years to finally start harnessing the power of nature to reduce and remove emissions, restore degraded land and seascapes and turn the tide on biodiversity loss. Private sector actors will have to combine ‘net zero’ with ‘nature positive’.

As the world move towards negotiations on the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, nature is still under-financed, the second edition of the State of Finance for Nature reveals.

“If we are to limit global warming to below 1.5°C, halt biodiversity loss, achieve land degradation neutrality, and meet the Sustainable Development Goals, dramatic and urgent action is required on emissions reductions, the conservation of nature and sustainable consumption and production”.

The Nature-based solutions (NbS) provide an opportunity to tackle a range of challenges in an integrated manner. Yet finance flows to NbS are currently only USD 154 billion/year, which is less than half of the USD 384 billion/year investment in NbS needed by 2025 and only a third of investment needed by 2030 (USD 484 billion/year).

“The science is undeniable. As we transition to net-zero emissions by 2050, we must also reorient all human activity to ease the pressure on the natural world on which we all depend” said Inger Anderson, Executive Director of UNEP.

“This requires governments, business and finance to massively step up investments in nature-based solutions because investments in nature are investments in securing the future for generations to follow.”

The report comes a week before governments from across the world are set to gather for the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) in Montreal, Canada, where they will adopt a landmark agreement to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.

Among the key issues under discussion is the mobilisation of resources for the implementation of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and investments in NbS. UNEP, along with partners, is urging governments to provide an agreement that sets a clear mandate for countries to require the financial sector to align its activities with nature positive goals.

Tackling climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation with immediate action requires that current global investments need to increase by USD 230 billion each year to 2025. Governments currently provide 83% of NbS finance flows, yet will be unlikely to dramatically increase these flows due to fiscal challenges linked to conflict, debt and poverty.

Therefore, the private sector must significantly increase investment from current levels of USD 26 billion per year (17%). To do so, it must increase investments in sustainable supply chains, reduce activities with negative impact on climate and biodiversity and offset unavoidable impacts through high integrity nature markets, pay for the ecosystem services it uses and invest in nature positive activities.

The analysis by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the BMZ-financed Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative with support from Vivid Economics by McKinsey finds that limiting global warming to 1.5°C, rather than 2°C, is achievable only if action is immediate and with additional cumulative investments of USD 1.5 trillion to a total of USD 11 trillion between 2022 – 2050, compared to the 2C target (with a total required cumulative investment of USD 9.5 trillion).

This additional investment will focus on sustainable agriculture and peatland restoration. Phasing out coal and decarbonizing the energy systems will not be enough without adjacent massive investments into nature-based solutions. This is congruent with the findings of the 2022 Emissions Gap Report.

State Secretary,Jochen Flasbarth, in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), said: “While the world is enduring multiple crises, this report provides clarity: It shows that, by significantly increasing public and private investments in nature-based solutions, it is possible to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation – and at the same time harness many societal and economic benefits. We need to act now.”

This updated version of the report has broadened to marine ecosystems, concluding that a small share, 9%, of total investments in NbS target marine based solutions. Disproportionally, the ocean represents over 70% of the Earth’s surface and absorbs around 25% of all CO2 emissions, making it one of the world’s largest carbon sinks while also providing 17% of the world’s protein.