7 Nature-Positive Trends for a More Sustainable Future

Nature surrounds us, and it's time to learn to coexist with it. At Firecrown, we're constantly on the lookout for new approaches and actions that can help us not only protect and conserve our natural world, but live in harmony with it.

Nature-positive is described as world where “there is more biodiversity globally in 2030 than there was in 2020” by Business for Nature. Below are seven nature-positive approaches to business and development that support actualizing this vision:

Increase in collaborative efforts to halt deforestation

Deforestation is a major driver of climate change and biodiversity loss. There is no way to reach our collective goal to stay under 1.5ºC without not only stopping deforestation, but reversing it. This will require a massive overhaul in how we grow food and utilize our land resources.

We expect to see a shift towards more integrated approaches to stopping deforestation. This will involve working with governments, businesses, and communities to develop and implement comprehensive plans that address the root causes of deforestation.

While many businesses have made promises to reduce deforestation, truly separating commodity production from deforestation will require new approaches that combine government policies, corporate practices, and innovative financing.

A rise in nature-based solutions

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are “actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural and modified ecosystems in ways that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, to provide both human well-being and biodiversity benefits.” NBS can include a wide range of approaches, the protection of coral reefs for oceanic ecosystem recovery or maintenance, the restoration of wetlands for climate adaptation, or creating green roofs to regulate temperatures and store carbon.

In the near future, we expect to see a continued rise in the popularity of NBS. This is due to a number of factors, including:

• Increasing recognition of the benefits of NBS, such as their ability to improve air and water quality, reduce flood risk, and provide habitat for biodiversity.

• The growing body of evidence on the cost-effectiveness of NBS for businesses.

• The increasing availability of funding for NBS projects.

Forest restoration will accelerate in pace, scale, and quality

While it is critical that the trillion trees movement is gaining momentum, we must not compromise quality of forest restoration for speed and scale as this will ultimately distract from our long-term goals to create resilient ecosystems, enhance natural biodiversity, and support native growth.

We have seen a recent surge in planting trees and restoring forests from all sectors of society, including the private sector due to the UN Decade of Restoration, which has pledged hundreds of entities to conserve and restore trees around the world. Through the 1t.org platform, which vows to conserve, restore, and grow one trillion trees by 2030, more than 80 companies have committed to supporting more than 7 billion trees in over 65 countries.

As forest restoration continues to grow in dominance on the global stage, it is essential that we focus these restoration efforts on ensuring native species are planted to restore the natural ecological balance of the landscapes we’re going into, as well as planting for forests to be resilient in the face of a changing climate and ever-growing climate-related disasters.

Biodiversity credits will fuel the nature-positive solutions

There is an annual financing gap of around $700 billion dollars that is needed to protect and restore nature. Biodiversity credits are a type of market-based instrument that can be used to finance conservation and restoration efforts. Biodiversity credits are generated when landowners or businesses protect or restore ecosystems that support high levels of biodiversity. These credits can then be sold to buyers who want to offset their environmental impact. Biodiversity credits allow companies to fund resilience measures in the areas where their sourcing and production services depend.

Biodiversity credits can often be used as a greenwashing tactic to continue business-as-usual operations, so we should expect to see progress in defining the new rules and governance to ensure credits are high-integrity and hold corporations accountable.

Cities will harness the power of nature to heal and thrive

It is estimated that 80% of cities face climate risks such as extreme heat, heavy rainfall and flooding, and drought. Urban environments can play a vital role in restoring nature and improving public health. For example, initiatives like Nature-Positive Cities by the World Economic Forum are leaning into this role in order to highlight how nature-based solutions can be implemented into the urban landscape.

In the coming years, we will begin to see an increasing number of governments that are integrating nature into their urban planning, such as Los Angeles which is using urban forests to provide shade, improve air quality, reduce the urban heat island effect, and improve tree equity in low-income communities.

Indigenous knowledge will better guide conservation and restoration

Although they comprise less than 5% of the world population, Indigenous peoples protect 80% of the Earth's biodiversity in the ecosystems in which they have lived for centuries. Indigenous peoples have a deep understanding of the natural world and how to manage it sustainably. Their knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation and is critical for sustainable conservation and restoration.

Any investment project or development project needs to respect and uphold the rights and responsibilities of Indigenous peoples in their landscapes. A new report by the World Economic Forum aims to support leaders to do this and sheds light on the reasons why Indigenous people should be at the center of solving the climate crisis.

Clear goals to restore nature will be established and monitored

In order to effectively restore nature, we need to have clear goals for what we want to achieve. One-fifth of the world’s 2,000 largest companies have committed to net-zero targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but we must not stop there. It is time for companies to also make commitments to nature and biodiversity. These goals should be ambitious, but achievable. They should also be aligned with the needs of local communities in which they operate and the broader objectives of sustainable development.

These are just a few of the nature-positive approaches to be mindful of for businesses, communities, governments, and individuals. These approaches reflect a growing awareness of the importance of nature and a growing commitment to protecting and conserving it.

Sustainability consulting firms like Firecrown can play a vital role in supporting the positive trajectory of these approaches by helping businesses and organizations:

• Connect businesses and organizations with resources and expertise to support forest restoration.

• Advocate for policies and programs that support forest restoration.

• Understand and use biodiversity credits to offset their environmental impact.

• Support the development of new tools and resources to support the integration of indigenous knowledge into conservation and restoration.

• Advocate for policies and programs that support the role of indigenous peoples in conservation and restoration.

• Set clear and ambitious goals for the restoration of nature.

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