SIDE EVENT
Friday 3 June
09:00-10:15 CEST
Stockholmsmässan, Room 5
Organizers: WWF, UNEP-WCMC
About: World leaders have made commitments to transition to a nature positive economy (e.g., Leaders Pledge for Nature and G7 Nature Compact), and the Convention on Biological Diversity is en route to agreeing global goals and targets for nature. This event will discuss the global governance gaps which hinder economies from achieving these commitments and targets, and how this gap can be addressed alongside net zero governance reforms.
With co-presenters from government, research, finance and business, the event will call for the development of a roadmap on the reform of international institutions and systems to support the transition to a global nature positive and net zero economy. The process to develop this roadmap must be politically mandated, inclusive, participatory and draw on existing work on a nature positive economy, to propose the required enabling international structures.
The ambition is that the roadmap proposal will be acknowledged within the official S+50 dialogues, providing a basis for further political support to establish the roadmap drafting process. By co-developing the roadmap with governments, international institutions, other stakeholders and rightsholders, the process should build consensus on the systemic reforms needed and guide concrete action as part of an equitable, inclusive and collective global response.
Moderator(s): Marco Lambertini (WWF), Cornelia Pretorius (UNEP-WCMC)
Panelists:
- H.E. Sharon Ikeazor (Nigerian Federal Ministry of Environment)
- H.E. Emma Kari (Finnish Ministry of the Environment)
- Victor Galaz (Stockholm Resilience Centre)
- Karen Ellis (WWF-UK)
- Paulina Murphy (World Benchmarking Alliance)
- Kumi Kitamori (OECD)
Contact person: Åsa Ranung (asa.ranung_at_wwf.se)
Event outcomes (Key transformative actions):
- The Ministers of Environment for Nigeria, Finland and Colombia called for concrete actions towards a nature positive economy. Minister Correa of Colombia was pleased to see the Roadmap to a Nature Positive Economy proposal as a way to translate high level ambition into action. Minister Ikeazor of Nigeria stressed the need to address the systemic economic drivers of nature loss, and that this had to be a collective effort given one country cannot act alone in a globalised economy. Minister Kari of Finland emphasised the need to integrate nature into economic policy and warmly welcomed the proposal to develop a Roadmap to a Nature Positive Economy. This has provided an excellent platform for WWF, UNEP-WCMC and partners to build a core multisectoral coalition to establish a politically mandated, inclusive process to develop a Roadmap to a Nature Positive Economy. Audience members interested in joining this coalition were given follow up details.
- WWF, UNEP-WCMC and other partners will liaise with expert organisations and governments over the coming weeks to agree how they can support the development of the Roadmap. The event’s panel demonstrated the potential for different initiatives to fit together in a powerful overall governance framework. For example, the Stockholm Resilience Centre’s research can support the prioritisation of this initiative. The membership of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development can support the development of actionable targets for business action. The World Benchmarking Alliance can support the development of accountability mechanisms for business. The OECD’s insights on transformative economic policies offer a starting basis for the Roadmap’s recommendations. Most importantly, identifying how the existing work can fit together (and the resulting gaps) helps build a case for governmental involvement in the Roadmap process.
- Ministers and panelists announced some transformative actions to support the transition to a Nature Positive Economy, reiterating their comments throughout Stockholm +50. These actions will be followed closely as part of the Roadmap development process, so that they might be included or showcased as best practice when implemented. For example, Nigeria will be valuing nature in its national budgets, to “biodiversity proof” its projects and investments. The Finnish Ministry of Environment has started an assessment of a new Nature Act, mirroring their Climate Act which would bring the goal of becoming nature positive into national legislation, and have launched a research project on addressing the findings of the Dasgupta Report in Finland. Colombia has the ambition to become a superpower in “bioeconomy”, a sector which will generate 20% of its GDP by 2050, and protect 30% of its land and oceans 8 years before the target for the high level coalition for nature.