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Key Metrics

NBS Policy Accelerator

NBS Corporate Guidebook

India – Scaling Landscape Restoration

Mexico – Scaling NBS

Roughly $44 trillion of global GDP depends on nature, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). And yet, private and public sector funding for Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) falls woefully short. In 2021, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) determined that “investment in NBS ought to at least triple in real terms by 2030 and increase four-fold by 2050 if the world is to meets its climate change, biodiversity and land degradation targets.”

Financial institutions need data to direct their funds efficiently, and companies require a blueprint to invest in nature effectively. Policy makers need to understand the impact of enabling policies to catalyze the flow of private finance toward NBS. People must realize that restoring nature can simultaneously combat nature degradation while delivering economic and social benefits to increase buy-in from the stakeholders who will implement NBS on the ground.

Without full, systemic support from private and public actors, NBS—from conserving forests to enhancing efficiency of water usage—won’t be able to scale at the rate needed.

The Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) Pillar consists of 36 projects, both local and global in scope. The pillar seeks to build and scale the private sector NBS marketplace by creating the needed systemic infrastructure to reduce transaction costs and drive higher volumes of NBS activity by the financial and businesses sectors. NBS—such as mangrove restoration or climate-friendly palm oil production—require support on the path to commercial viability by overcoming barriers such as insufficient policy and regulatory frameworks, gaps between demand and supply, and the lack of measurement tools and business cases.

 

Key Metrics

The NBS pillar offers benefits far behind an improved natural environment. Through a workforce development lens, these projects provide practice stills to thousands of people in a rapidly growing field. Cementing nature-positive policy strengthens the ambition loop between the public and private sectors. Mainstreaming NBS metrics entrenches the gains made by each project, encouraging all stakeholders to continue the work. Since its inception in 2020, the project has achieved:

  • 6,084 stakeholders gained improved capacity or expertise
  • 54 policy-makers are alumni of the incentive shifting accelerator program
  • 9 innovative NBS incentive policies & barriers identified, analyzed, and disseminated to national and sub-national governments
  • 2 NBS incentives created or improved, prompting private sector money to flow to NBS
  • 46,816 users viewing GHG data layers within Global Forest Watch, ensuring the data is a common focal point for practitioners around the world

 

NBS Policy Accelerator

WRI’s NBS Policy Accelerator focuses on two primary objectives.

  1. Insufficient policy and regulatory frameworks prohibit private finance from flowing to NBS. The NBS Policy Accelerator shifts critical public incentives to enable greater flows of private and blended capital for nature-based solutions.
  2. Outdated practices plague the sector from supporting the best NBS interventions. The NBS Policy Accelerator implements new and improved, scalable data to align financial institutions with best practices for monitoring, reporting, and verifying NBS. NBS

Through research and partnerships with a multitude of stakeholders, we identify innovative opportunities for public and private actors to establish new norms for funding NBS.

Watch How Mexico Incentivizes Farmers to Revitalize Water Supply

Locations:

  • Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Chile, Global

Experts:

 

NBS Corporate Guidebook

As of 2023, while there is significant guidance on what types of NBS companies should invest in, there is little practical guidance on how companies should develop NBS strategies. That’s due, in part, to the fact that there is no common definition for NBS within the business sector.

Whether businesses are interested in initiating some positive contribution to nature and nature-based solutions, scaling their current NBS activities or reviewing their NBS strategies, this toolkit will clarify and simplify corporate decision-making.

By simplifying the process between decision and action, our guidance will help businesses effectively scale NBS finance and impacts on the aggressive 2030 & 2050 climate commitment timelines referenced by the WEF and UNEP.

Locations:

  • Global

Experts:

Resources:

 

Mexico – Scaling NBS

Nature-based Solutions can reduce the consequences of climate change on both humanity and the environment by diminishing the impact of natural disasters and enhancing community resilience. Restoring and conserving mangroves alone could prevent yearly flooding for over 18 million individuals worldwide.

Mexico is one of the four countries with the largest mangrove area and serves as a haven for these restoration powerhouses. Boasting 700,000 hectares, at the rate of $100,000 USD per hectare per year, Mexico’s economy sees an annual environmental services benefit of $70 billion from mangroves. Unfortunately, tourism, urbanization and land use change to agriculture and cattle grazing have decimated huge swaths of mangroves.

Working alongside our local partner, RE3CO, we will carry out community-driven mangrove restoration, conservation and management to the betterment of people, first and foremost. Local organizations, especially women-led groups, are leading efforts on the ground in multiple regions – securing economic independence and numerous social benefits from their participation.

Meet Mexico's Mangrove Guardians

Locations:

  • Mexico
  • Isla Aguada, Camp – Fragata
  • Isla Arena, Camp – Carey
  • Isla Arena, Camp. Honey Kaab
  • Pantanos de Centla, Tab. - A. Accion
  • Sisal, Yuc. - DUMAC
  • Ventanilla, Oax. - Lagarto Real

Experts:

Project Partner:

  • Small Grants Programme Mexico (UNDP)

Resources:

 

India – Scaling Landscape Restoration

Locations:

  • Sidhi, Madhya Pradesh, India

Experts:

Implementation Partner:

  • Action for Social Advancement

Resources: