Biodiversity: Finance and the Economic and Business Case for Action
The Convention on Biological Diversity’s 15th Conference of the Parties (CBD COP15) in 2020 marks a critical juncture for one of the defining global challenges of our time: the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, which underpin nearly all of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Transformative changes are needed to ensure biodiversity conservation and sustainable use and the delivery of the ecosystem services upon which all life depends. This report sets the economic and business case for urgent and ambitious action on biodiversity. It presents a preliminary assessment of current biodiversity-related finance flows, and discusses the key data and indicator gaps that need to be addressed to underpin effective monitoring of both the pressures on biodiversity and the actions (i.e. responses) being implemented. The report concludes with ten priority areas where G7 and other countries can prioritise their efforts.
The socio-economic case for biodiversity action
This chapter highlights the multiple benefits society derives from biodiversity and ecosystem services. It collates global, regional and national estimates of the economic value of these benefits, and the costs of policy inaction. Drawing on case studies and academic literature, the chapter then underscores the importance of biodiversity and nature-based solutions for achieving policy objectives on human health, food and water security, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and disaster risk reduction. Finally, the chapter discusses countries’ efforts to better understand and reflect biodiversity values in decision-making, through national ecosystem assessments and natural capital accounting.
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