People, Planet, Prosperity: Mainstreaming Nature in Policy & Investment Decisions (Global)

The Challenge

There is growing recognition that healthy, functioning ecosystems are fundamental to achieving food and water security, poverty reduction, and sustainable development. Despite this, the values provided by nature are not widely integrated into policy and investment decisions that support nature's role in our lives. Mechanisms that facilitate this integration and mobilize resources for nature protection and restoration are a critical component of effective human development programs. 

The Solution

Since 2023, the Natural Capital Project, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the World Bank have worked with 16 pilot countries to co-develop natural capital approaches that directly inform policy and investment decisions for development and conservation goals. The project team is sharing lessons across these countries and beyond, with the goal of scaling up these approaches around the world. See below for the IDB and ADB member country projects (and on IDB's site for more on their projects), and on the Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Landscape Assessment Initiative (BELA) project page for the related World Bank projects. 

Explore the full list of publications for each project.

• The project team is co-developing natural capital approaches in each pilot country – along with multilateral development bank leaders, local government partners, and local experts – in order to inform specific, priority policy or finance decisions. These will help to secure each country’s natural capital in support of their development goals.
• The pilot countries, supported by the project teams, are further developing technical and policy capacity across their governments and other relevant institutions for implementing natural capital approaches in future work.
• The multilateral development banks are further developing their operational support and finance opportunities for mainstreaming natural capital approaches within countries.
• The project team is developing a standardized framework, training curricula, and customizable tools for global application of natural capital approaches, demonstrating and sharing different pathways for policy and finance interventions.

People, Planet, Prosperity Pilot Projects

Funders

This project is funded by the Global Environment Facility, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Global Partnership for Sustainable and Resilient Landscapes (PROGREEN), a World Bank Multi-Donor Trust Fund. This project grew out of an earlier Green Finance project and this Report on Natural Capital Approaches. 

Related Videos

Related Publications

See project-specific reports