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Illustration with circles containing imagery of people, jungle, dolphins, cattle, houses, and mangroves against a mustard yellow background.
Blue Bonds and Socio-bioeconomies These strategies can help us invest in a nature-positive economy at land, water and sea. © The Nature Conservancy
Perspectives

Invest in Nature, and Nature Invests in Us

How we fund and transition to a nature-positive economy at land, water and sea

Later this year, representatives from countries around world will meet at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to agree on a new global framework to guide biodiversity protection the rest of this decade—a “New Deal for Nature.”

Hopes are high for an ambitious framework, but challenges still lie ahead—including finding ways to pay for the actions required to meet its goals. We currently have a ~$700 billion funding gap between what we spend to protect nature every year and what we need to be spending, according to a landmark report from The Nature Conservancy, the Paulson Institute, and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.

To close this nature funding gap and to halt and potentially reverse the global decline of biodiversity, we need innovative strategies that generate funding for nature while also supporting sustainable livelihoods for people. The following graphics showcase a few examples in countries that have done this successfully.

Funding ocean conservation and climate change adaptation activities is difficult for most countries, but the challenge is particularly acute for those that are highly dependent on vulnerable marine resources. These governments often experience high debt burdens, further limiting their ability to invest in such activities—and thus perpetuating their vulnerability to natural disasters and economic downturns. The Blue Bonds for Conservation model was developed to address this challenge.

An infographic showing degraded ocean environment and damaged coast with three blocks of text that set up the three areas of concern for Blue Bonds: the ocean, economy, and community
A large infographic showing a healthy ocean and coastal ecosystem and blocks of text about the opportunity of Blue Bonds: ocean protection commitments and collaboration with diverse stakeholders.

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The Amazon rainforest covers almost half of Brazil—much of that within the State of Pará. In Pará, the diversity of the flora contributes to the economy. Keeping forests standing is more profitable than cutting them down. This is the first study of the current and future whole value chain of biodiversity within a State to reveal the value of non-timber forest products, social biodiversity products, and the knowledge of local people. As these graphics demonstrate, integrating biodiversity in value chains is better for the climate, people, and the economy.

An infographic with illustrations of a rainforest and products harvested from the forest in Brazil, with blocks of text describing the context for a sociobioeconomy in Pará, Brazil.
An infographic shows comparisons of three different scenarios concerning cattle farming and the sociobioeconomy in Pará, showing that the socio-bioeconomy could have larger positive impact for economy
An infographic showing how the socio-bioeconomy model could be applied in small rural communities across the world to fairly compensate producers and leave natural ecosystems intact.

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