Climate change and nature loss are two of the most pressing environmental crises threatening countries’ development prospects and human well-being. Unchecked, climate change will push hundreds of millions into poverty and cause hundreds more to migrate within countries. Nature loss poses similar risks - a sudden loss of ecosystem services such as pollination, provision of timber from tropical forests, and food from marine fisheries, could mean that low-income countries forego 10 percent of their GDP each year by 2030, according to World Bank research. Marginalized communities are likely to face disproportionate effects of these compounding crises. Economic sectors will suffer too - biodiversity loss and climate change were ranked among the top three most severe risks over a 10-year horizon by business leaders in a survey of the World Economic Forum.
While there is broad recognition that the two crises are interconnected, by and large, they continue to be addressed separately. Tackling nature loss and climate change jointly would not only be more effective but also have significant economic and fiscal benefits, and COP-15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity offers a unique opportunity to identify such win-win investments.
This session, hosted by the World Bank Group, will explore how countries could move beyond a nature- or climate-only approach and achieve the greatest impact with scarce public and private finance. Many World Bank Group clients - countries and companies - are at the forefront of integrating climate and nature action, offering important lessons and experiences that could be replicated. This session is structured around two dynamic segments:
• Segment 1 on Linking Nature and Climate for Local Development and Resilience will start off with a Ted-style talk on the role of nature-based solutions for climate resilience and local development. A dynamic panel will follow, bringing together policy leaders from several countries that are successfully harnessing nature and could offer insights on the successes so far and the greatest opportunities ahead.
• Segment 2 on Integrating Nature into Private Sector Operations to Benefit Biodiversity and Climate will explore how project-level biodiversity risk management has transformed into the more holistic practices that we’re seeing today. A panel with business leaders from three different sectors will highlight their strategy and operational practices to address the dual nature and energy crises while ensuring that biodiversity remains at the center of the nature-positive dialogue.
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