Youth Voices for a Nature-Positive Economy: A Fresh Perspective from Trinity College Students
How can we build an economy that works with nature rather than against it? Last year, we published a concept note exploring the foundations of a nature-positive economy, sparking conversations about the role of businesses, policymakers, and communities in driving this shift.
Now, we’re passing the mic to the next generation. In this three-part blog series, "Youth Voices for a Nature-Positive Economy," students from Trinity College share their reflections, critiques, and insights on our Concept Note. Their perspectives highlight the challenges, opportunities, and bold ideas that could shape a more nature-positive future!
We’re excited to kick off the series with the first blog written by Akinwande Majola, who was selected by our expert panel from outstanding student submissions. Stay tuned for more!
GoNaturePositive!: Reflections on the Concept Note
20/03/25, an article by Akinwande Majola
Caring for the planet is a tough and demoralising prospect, and one that often feels like a losing battle. The tremendous wealth, technology, and sprawl of humanity has long been coming to an apex.
Every year a new dystopian statistic comes out regarding the end of our planet, indicating that now, and not later, is always the best time to pivot to a more sustainable economy.
However, humans are creatures of habit and as a race we have become addicted to continuous improvement with the overarching costs out of sight and out of mind. This is something that nature positive economies (NPEs) hope to combat, a concept that is bridging the gap between economies and the natural environment.
GoNaturePositive! (GoNP!) is an innovative framework and one that marks a real shift in the way we can structure businesses around nature and the environment.
The concept of GoNP! to my understanding is to integrate the environment fully into our economic system, engraining nature into economic and policy decisions. Consequently, we would hope to see increased resilience in food security, mitigation of natural disasters, and the reversal of nature degradation.
I feel that Key Message 1 in the concept note typifies the idea of nature positive economies, defining an NPE as something that "means that the net results of all economic activities combined, leads to an absolute increase in nature towards full recovery" (GoNaturePositive!, 2024).
While I feel that this definition captures the spirit and aims of the GoNP! project, I feel it's not an effective definition to onboard the general population or one that can permeate society. The shift from an economic system focused on financial gain to one focused on natural preservation is one that, while noble and necessary, would break the fabric of human economics. Shifts in prevailing models that serve the greater good are ubiquitous in literature, but few and far between in practice.
From a governance point of view, the stakeholder model was posited as an alternative to shareholder wealth maximisation (SWM) (Freeman, 1984), in a similar way circular and regenerative economies have been for existing market systems. Further, models illustrated the capacity for this shift to generate greater aggregate social welfare (Jones and Felps, 2013).
However, the sparsity of regulation for stakeholder provisions and the diminishing, but still existing, presence of financialisation economically and corporately is indicative of the turnover time for the economy regarding anthropocentric, non-financial goals in capitalistic societies.
My general opinion favours measures such as those outlined in GoNP!, and I believe that given the dire situation of nature degradation and climate change radical shifts in systems, preferences, and operations are necessary for an effective turnaround.
However, in a perpetually increasing economy (see figure 1.1 & figure 1.2), the change from a system that actively destroys nature to one that actively regenerates nature is impossible. Sectors essential for human utility such as energy, food, fashion, and infrastructure are responsible for roughly 90% of the planet's biodiversity loss (Kurth et al., 2021).
The unfortunate truth is that issues regarding consumption, ethical consumption to be exact, and preventative measures are not at the forefront for the general population.
The global economy is caught in a general cost of living crisis that supersedes the salience for climate action. Looking at issues most important for voters in both the US and Ireland we can see the most pressing issues are directly linked with voters' immediate quality of life, such as the economy, housing and even immigration policy (Pew Research Center, 2024; Newsdesk, 2024) (see figures 2.1 & 2.2).
This is indicative of a drop in perceived urgency as people are deciding to use their decisions to impact non-climate issues at a disproportionate rate. The power of green parties is waning not just in Ireland but across Europe (McGee, 2024), a sign that citizens and voters would find it hard to bear the brunt of shifts that pose a threat to their usual pattern of consumption and standard of living.
Figure 2.1: Top voter issues 2023 US General Election and Figure 2.2: Top Voter issues 2023 Irish General Election
This isn't to say that the general population doesn't care about the natural environment; in fact data shows the opposite (see figure 2.1).
The existence of external economic factors serves as a barrier to the goal of an NPE, but not a roadblock. I feel that the transition to nature positive economies should be an integrated change as opposed to an overwhelming shift. This would include mandating more stringent economic policy that includes action and investment, as opposed to the status quo in sustainability which is simply just reporting regulation.
This would also likely help to garner support from people as research has shown that CSR metrics are an important factor in a firm's attractiveness (Waples and Brachle, 2019).
Efforts such as this would see a more natural shift in nature positive operations, conscious consumption, and state cooperation without these actors feeling an imminent threat to their way of life, business, and operation.
I would also propose an amendment in the key message to "A NPE means a system focused on shifting away from degenerative systems through the adoption of corporate accountability, state responsibility, and citizen engagement." This new definition directly calls out the power that corporations and states have in terms of leading the charge to NPEs, while also recognising the importance for the public to get behind such movements.
Additionally, this definition can be applied within different economic conditions. To touch on earlier points, if the concept of NPEs can be seen as a shift, addition, and integration to the current system it's more likely to be accepted. This is especially so if our framing can convince that this would create value as opposed to destroying value.
In summary, I believe that the concept of NPEs is necessary in changing the future landscape of the natural environment and with that the economy. However, I don't believe that the key message outlined in the GoNaturePositive! concept note can realistically lead to a widespread adoption of new practices. I have proposed a change in which systematic increases are more deliberate and play on both the powers at hand and capacity and willingness for change.
Reference list
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McGee, H. (2024). The ebbing of the green wave is not unique to Ireland. [online] The Irish
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