Nature is interconnected, intertwined, and indivisible with human life, our societies, and economies. Yet we are polluting and destroying our land, air, seas and freshwater, and threatening current and future generations. Incremental change is not enough.
UNDP is responding in a way that is more bold, more imaginative, and more ambitious than ever before. Putting nature at the heart of development, we are working with governments and people around the world to secure a better, more sustainable, more equitable future.
Our Pledge
The UNDP Nature Pledge is our commitment to provide accelerated and upscaled support to over 140 countries to reach their ambitious targets in the historic Global Biodiversity Framework.
The Nature Pledge provides a pathway to transform our global systems to meet vital targets to protect and restore our planet, eradicate poverty, reduce gender and other inequalities, protect human rights, and accelerate overall progress on our global goals.
Our vision is a future where the world’s biodiversity and ecosystems are protected, restored and valued as a planetary safety net for all of humanity, safeguarding our food, our water, our livelihoods and jobs, our climate, our health and our security, enabling people to rise out of poverty and inequality to live more just and sustainable lives.
Only nature-based human development, with a systematic, inclusive, and rights-based approach to nature-based solutions can leverage the potential for the large-scale transformative change needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
By putting nature at the centre of our development agenda, UNDP will work with countries to scale and fast-track actions necessary under the Global Biodiversity Framework.
Three transformative pillars
The Nature Pledge is built upon three distinct pillars
1. A Global Value shift to transform the value we place on nature and drive changes in people’s behaviour. That means placing nature at the heart of development and across sectors including governance, economics, finance, health, and conservation.
2. An Economic and Finance shift that supports a system where natural capital is valued alongside financial, human and man-made capital by decision-makers.
3. A Policy and Practiceshift to deliver change at scale on the ground - led by countries and grounded in partnerships with local communities and Indigenous Peoples.
Stop all loss of areas with high biodiversity through spatial planning and effective management
30%
TARGETS 2 & 3
Restore 30% of all degraded ecosystems and conserve 30% of areas with high biodiversity
food
50%
TARGET 16
Cut global food waste by half - encourage sustainable consumption through information, education, policy and legislation
$500 billion
TARGET 18
Progressively phase out or reform the incentives and subsidies that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year
biodiversity
$200 billion
TARGET 19
Mobilize at least $200 billion per year by 2030, to substantially increase funding for National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans
Turning blueprints into reality
The world signed a new deal for nature—now it's time to put it into action.
In December 2022, 185 countries agreed on the historic Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework - an action plan to halt biodiversity loss and preserve the conditions for life on Earth.
The framework’s 4 goals and 23 targets include:
Effective conservation and management of at least 30% of the world’s lands, inland waters, coastal areas and oceans
Have restoration completed or underway on at least 30% of degraded terrestrial, inland waters, and coastal and marine ecosystems
Reduce to near zero the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance, including ecosystems of high ecological integrity
Cut global food waste in half and significantly reduce over consumption and waste generation
Reduce by half both excess nutrients and the overall risk posed by pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals
Progressively phase out or reform by 2030 subsidies that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year, while scaling up positive incentives for biodiversity’s conservation and sustainable use
Mobilize by 2030 at least $200 billion per year in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from all sources – public and private
Raise international financial flows from developed to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States, and countries with economies in transition, to at least US$ 20 billion per year by 2025, and to at least US$ 30 billion per year by 2030
Prevent the introduction of priority invasive alien species, and reduce by at least half the introduction and establishment of other known or potential invasive alien species, and eradicate or control invasive alien species on islands and other priority sites
Require large and transnational companies and financial institutions to monitor, assess, and transparently disclose their risks, dependencies and impacts on biodiversity through their operations, supply and value chains and portfolios
Nature is an asset that needs to be nurtured, invested in and grown. It is the foundation of our future. There can be no sustainable development without nature.