The World Bank Group attended the Conference of the Parties (COP15) on Biodiversity to emphasize that the global decline of nature is a critical development issue, and one that disproportionately impacts low-income countries. Held from December 7th - 19th, World Bank participation centered around the critical need to invest in nature for reducing poverty and inequality and preserving the critical ecosystems that support livelihoods and a stable climate.  GPS supported research, such as the Changing Wealth of Nations and The Economic Case for Nature provided important inputs to World Bank discussions and presentations.

FEATURE STORY: Securing Our Future Through Biodiversity

Biodiversity is our planet’s wealth. It is a cornerstone of development, and its loss threatens many hard-won development gains. Released to coincide with World Bank participation at COP-15, this feature story look at why we cannot ignore that nature and biodiversity loss is a material risk to our economies, our financial sector and therefore to development. 

OP ED: Eco-Economic Development

Published by Project Syndicate, this Op-Ed by World Bank President David Malpass discusses how conservation efforts that merely stop nature loss are no longer enough to address growing threats to biodiversity and the natural systems that are crucial to all economies. The piece looks at the need to reverse the decline by changing how we produce and consume.

With 40% of its wealth in natural resources, Zambia has made environmental sustainability one of its top priorities, recognizing Natural Capital Accounting as an essential tool for success.

Setting up the Water Account surfaced challenges that ultimately led to developing essential internal expertise and laid a foundation for the development of subsequent accounts. But creating accounts is only the first step. It is equally important to write clear and concise briefs for policymakers and ensure they are applied to decision making and policy formulation.

The continued rise in sustainable investing and climate finance was probably only matched by the continued demand for more and better data. However, the data supply has not grown on the same scale, especially for sovereign ESG data. 

The new ESG Data portal helps to address this gap, with a new expanded format focusing on closing data gaps and guidance on how to use the data.

Nature Action 100, a global investor engagement initiative to reduce nature loss had a "soft" launch at COP 15 on December 10th, with an official launch scheduled for Spring 2023.

Nature-related risks are increasingly recognized as posing material risks to investment portfolios and as such, investor activity and interest in biodiversity is growing significantly. Learning from Climate Action 100+, investors are well positioned to drive the corporate transition to nature-smart practices. Proposals for a ‘Nature Action 100’ have been put forward by several organizations, including the World Bank in reports such as the Mobilizing Private Finance for Nature report, and the structure for such an initiative is taking shape.

The Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action and the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) recently took significant steps to advance their understanding of nature-related risks, recognizing the significant economic, financial, and fiscal implications associated with nature loss. 

This two-day forum in early October, hosted by the Laos Ministry of Planning and Investment, with the support of the Global Green Growth Institute and the World Bank, brought Lao agencies and organizations together to discuss progress on the National Green Growth Strategy and identify future priorities. It provided an opportunity for policy makers, development partners, civil society and the private sector to explore green growth issues and showcase solutions related to low-carbon development, the management of natural capital, electric mobility, and waste management.

The GPS Seminar Series presents regular virtual events on the latest knowledge on how policy makers and the financial sector can integrate environmental sustainability considerations into decision making. Topics over the past few months have included Strengthening the Capacity for Measuring and Valuing Natural Capital in Ghana, Renewable Energy: Unaccounted Wealth of Nations, and Improving Natural Capital Management in Lao PDR.

The objective of the GPS Technical Assistance Grant for the Mexico Connecting Watershed Health with Sustainable Livestock and Agroforestry Production Project, financed by the Global Environment Facility, is to strengthen integrated landscape management in priority watersheds in Mexico with biophysical evaluation and economic valuation of ecosystem services to boost sustainable, inclusive rural livelihoods and promote climate-smart productive practices. 

Read about a GPS study focusing on three carefully selected watersheds across different ecoregions in the states of Chihuahua, Jalisco, and Veracruz