Measuring nature-positive outcomes is key to unlocking investment in nature restoration. At the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025, GoNaturePositive! shared project perspectives and engaged with experts and practitioners on two sessions leading to valuable learning and insights on metrics and financing.
In the first session on “Measuring Nature Positive: a Whole of Society approach”, Gavin Edwards, Executive Director of the NaturePositiveInitiative and an Impact Board member of GoNP!, opened the session, welcoming GoNaturePositive! work on a whole-of-society approach to measuring nature-positive as part of the overall theme of metrics being addressed at the IUCN WCC.
Siobhan McQuaid, GoNP! project coordinator then spoke acknowledging the significant progress that has been made on nature metrics, in particular indicators for corporate reporting and disclosure. However, she pointed out that such metrics are often unsuited for smaller businesses. Current metrics also fail to capture the influence of key actors like policy makers, financial institutions and citizens on business behaviour and motivations.
In the open and interactive discussions which followed, audience members were invited to share their perspectives on the value and challenges of a whole-of-society approach and to share suggestions for metrics for different actors. Valuable insights were shared by Gabby Ahmadia of WFF; Joanna Wolstenholme of UNEP-WCMC and Daniela Rizzi of ICLEI Europe amongst others.
In the public sector, proposals for metrics ranged from measuring transition from harmful subsidies to nature-positive subsidies, to the inclusion of nature-positive criteria in procurement processes. These perspectives were reinforced with on the ground insights in other sessions from Indonesia where Ristika Putri Istanti stated that changes in public policy were a key metric for measuring progress towards a nature positive economy.
Similarly, Amrei Von Hase from the Combo+ project operating primarily across African countries, reiterated that changes in policy and legal framework were key criteria for measuring progress towards nature-positive. Valuable metrics were also suggested for citizens from the use of apps to monitor changes in consumption patterns to surveys on awareness and behavioral change.
In a second session on “Unlocking Private Finance for scalable, credible and high integrity NbS”, Prof. Thomas Andersson from IKED delivered the keynote address identifying the conundrum facing financial intermediaries including the challenges of measurement, valuation and risk management as well as their disconnection from on-the-ground realities. He proposed the need for a ‘reward circle’ connecting verified investment projects with investors.
The role of IUCN in addressing such disconnects was presented by Angela Andrade from IUCN followed by insights on new initiatives from financial institutions with inputs from Dr. Christopher Dickinson from the Asian Development Bank, Eric Schoumsky from Societe General. Nan Xiang from the China Sustainability Tribune shared case studies from China on private sector investment in NbS as part of a multi-stakeholder approach spanning agriculture, mining and energy infrastructure.biodiversity and economic development.
A huge thank-you to the organisers and participants at the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025 for the dynamic and varied discussions bringing together the world of policy, practice and finance. The parting message was clear though – don’t wait for perfection, get started now on nature restoration!
Learn more here.
