The story behind nature positive

The Living Planet Report, the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystems and the latest Global Biodiversity Outlook paint a stark picture of nature in crisis across the globe. Almost all of the conservation targets established by the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity for the last decade have not been met. The latest World Economic Forum Global Risks Report ranks biodiversity loss in the top three in perceptions on the most severe risks; and many of the top ten risks are nature dependent. The science is clear, there is a need for transformative change to conserve and restore biodiversity and to create a healthy planet to support nature’s contributions to people.

The post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework sets out an ambition for delivering transformative actions over the coming decades, including goals and targets for halting and reversing biodiversity loss (‘bending the curve’ of biodiversity decline). This builds upon the previous Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and aims to support the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Recent expert input to this framework sets out a need for broad transformation that goes beyond just conservation and restoration and addresses the factors that drive biodiversity loss. The UN Decade of Restoration aims to support the restoration of biodiversity to achieve global goals. The UN Ocean Decade also sets out a framework to reverse the decline in ocean health. In recent times, 93 Heads of State have endorsed a Pledge for Nature that provides commitments for transformation and 126 Nobel Laureates have supported an urgent call for action in the Our Planet, Our Future statement. Also, in 2021, many financial institutions signed the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge. Youth leaders have also issued a #ForNature manifesto that calls for change. The recently agreed Glasgow Climate Pact has also emphasised the importance of conserving and restoring nature to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

In 2021, leading conservationists and a coalition of global institutions set out an overarching global goal for a ‘nature positive’ world, which aims to promote the restoration of biodiversity from 2020 to set a nature positive path by 2030, and to deliver full recovery by 2050. It also emphasises the interdependent connection between nature, economy and the health and well-being of people; and the need to build resilience.

The momentum for nature positive is building. In their recent 2030 Nature Compact, G7 leaders announced that “our world must not only become net zero, but also nature positive, for the benefit of both people and the planet.” The inaugural IUCN Leaders Forum was convened to help construct a vision for delivering nature positive economies and societies; and a working paper ‘Towards an IUCN Nature-Positive Approach’ seeks to develop a methodology to support organisations to measure and track nature positive contributions. Under Business for Nature, more than 1,000 businesses have called on governments to reverse nature loss in this decade. In the finance sector, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures will aim to direct investments towards nature positive outcomes; and at COP26 in Glasgow, the Multi-lateral Development Banks committed to support nature positive investment in their joint statement Nature, People and Planet. Cross-sectoral groups, such as Nature4Climate are also calling for a future that is net zero and nature positive. The World Economic Forum, Business for Nature, and the UK government ‘Dasgupta Review’ have presented the business and economic case for nature positive. To support businesses to implement nature positive approaches, a range of guides and tools have been developed, including, for example, by the Science-based Targets Network, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and the Council for Sustainable Business. A focus group has also been established within a Thematic Group of the IUCN Commission for Ecosystem Management to support in the definition of nature positive and to disseminate an understanding of what this may mean in practice.