Invest4Nature partners were glad to attend Network Nature’s the final meeting in Brussels at the beginning of June. As one of the more recently funded NBS projects, it was a useful introduction to many of the other NBS projects and the valuable work of the Task Forces on NBS, where projects cluster together around common transversal themes to build synergies, share knowledge, co-create and share new resources to create wider impact. Find out more about the Task Forces here.
We got to hear inspiring stories from different ecosystems, interesting debates on policy, economy and practice, new reports, and even the launch of NBS comics! Of particular relevance for the Invest4Nature project was the presentation of the latest EIB report Investing in nature-based solutions on Day 2 of the event.
Some of the report’s findings from the report include:
Nature based solutions rely almost exclusively on public financing with just 3% of NBS in receipt of funding from the private sector. Project scale is small both in terms of investment (<€10m with most coming in at < €1m) and in the size of area transformed. The rate of implementation of NBS is slow and the NBS with the highest investment potential include the water management, urban, forestry and agricultural sectors.
” The majority of nature’s benefits have no financial market value today,”
said Ambroise Fayolle, EIB Vice President in charge of climate action and the environment. She continues by emphasizing the importance of recognizing nature’s invaluable benefits:
“However, an enormous part of our economies is dependent on them. If we want nature-based solutions to become mainstream, we must increase transparency and measurability, and provide the enabling conditions for both the private and public sector to develop them. Knowledge and incentives are key for investment decisions.
This is where projects like Invest4Nature play a crucial role in moving nature-based solutions forward. Invest4Nature can providing this knowledge, measurements, and essential data to empower decision makers in building a compelling business case for NBS.
Invest4Nature looks forward to the start of the new NetworkNature+ CSA project commencing in August 2023 and actively participating in the task forces, contributing to publications, and sharing the outputs of our project. We will keep you posted on updates!