In news- The State of Finance for Nature report was jointly released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Economics of Land Degradation.
Highlights of the report-
- Nature-based solutions (NbS) refer to sustainable management and use of nature to tackle socio-environmental challenges, which range from disaster risk reduction, climate change and biodiversity loss to food and water security as well as human health.
- Agriculture, food and beverages and construction are the largest sectors that are dependent on nature.
- Out of $133 billion investment that currently flows into NbS annually (using 2020 as base year), public funds make up 86 percent and private finance 14 percent of these investments.
- These comprise about 0.10 per cent of global GDP.
- Public sector spending for the same is dominated by the United States and China, followed by Japan, Germany and Australia.
- NbS finance is much smaller in scale than climate finance.
- Annual investments in NbS will have to be tripled by 2030 and increase four-fold by 2050 from the current level of investments.
- By 2050, total investment of natural needs will amount to $8.1 trillion, while annual investment should reach $536 billion annually by 2050.
- Forest-based solutions alone would amount to $203 billion per year.
- The report did not cover all types of NbS, notably those in the marine environment were excluded.
- However, it called for a comprehensive system and framework for labelling, tracking, reporting and verifying the state of finance for NbS.
Source: DownToEarth
