Excellencies,  

Distinguished Members of the Executive Board and Member States, 

UNDP welcomes the evaluation findings and recommendations which essentially validate the direction of the UNDP Nature Pledge. 

The Nature Pledge was launched in October 2023 to scale up UNDP support to over 140 countries and to do it in a transformative way. As the Administrator mentioned this morning, UNDP is more than the sum of projects. The Nature Pledge, the INFFs and the Climate Promise are examples of us trying to elevate it beyond our projects. The Nature Pledge focuses on three systemic shifts: a Value Shift, an Economic & Finance Shift, and Policy & Practice Shift.   

To address the drivers of biodiversity loss and to achieve the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and linked goals of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda, those three shifts will need to happen. We need people to value nature because there is no economy, there is no life without nature. There is no dealing with the climate crises without dealing with the solutions in all aspects for nature. So here we are, with the Nature Pledge, with the Climate Promise, all trying to come together. There is no sustainable development on an unlivable planet.  

This was the first full evaluation of our work in ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation, and we applaud the Independent Evaluation Office for its comprehensiveness, looking at over 600 projects between 2018 and 2023 and interviewing 640 stakeholders most of them outside of UNDP.  

The evaluation is being used to inform our Nature Pledge and broader efforts under our Strategic Plan, Moonshots, and closely linked Climate Promise, to respond to multiple global crises including increasing poverty, inequality, and fragility, through integrated solutions that advance a just green transition. 

We welcome the evaluation findings that UNDP delivered significant support from 2018-2023 through over 600 projects with a total expenditure of over US$1.5 billion across 134 countries¹. 

UNDP welcomes and accepts all 8 evaluation recommendations. Our management response, including under the first recommendation, will be implemented under the umbrella of the UNDP Nature Pledge, in strong alignment with UNDP’s Strategic Plan and the Climate Promise. 

To ensure a whole-of-UNDP response to target the drivers of biodiversity loss aligned with recommendation 2, we will establish an internal high-level task force to strengthen our country office support for Nature-positive economic transitions and strengthen the ownership of the Nature Pledge within and across all levels and offices of UNDP.   

It is critical that we leverage all of UNDP’s expertise to deliver the Nature Pledge, in line with recommendations 1, 6, and 7.  

For recommendation 5, UNDP will further increase our contribution on realignment of public and private finance system, including continued support for the Taskforce on Nature Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) to redirect flows of private finance from nature-negative to nature-positive, and for repurposing and realigning harmful subsidies as a key organisational offer. 

We will also strengthen our work with international finance institutions; integrate ecosystems and biodiversity into UNDP finance offers on tax, budget, debt, and INFFs; and help to unlock private capital. 

Aligning with recommendation 3, UNDP is already supporting 25 countries on subsidy repurposing planning through our flagship global programme BIOFIN.  With GEF support, we will soon support an additional 91 countries to develop national biodiversity finance plans, including addressing harmful subsidies and realignment of fiscal policies wherever possible, then plans will be done in alignment with the INFFs.  

For recommendation 4, UNDP will strengthen our effort to address the environment-poverty nexus, mapping biodiversity hotspots and areas with a high incidence of poverty to develop context-specific strategies and projects in support of countries.   

On recommendation 8 on more systematic capacity building of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, UNDP will continue to engage these and other stakeholder groups in NBSPA and NDC design and implementation. 

Linked to recommendation 8, we will also: further enhance our local action offer in over 130 countries, including our Small Grants Programme; strengthen capacities of communities to directly access international funds; and recognize their local solutions through initiatives such as the Equator Initiative.  

UNDP’s Management Response to these recommendations will strengthen our Nature Pledge, to drive nature-positive action globally, within UNDP and with all Member States and partners 

We will bring the whole-of-UNDP approach to Convention on Biological Diversity COP 16 in Colombia in October, amplifying clear messages of the COP Presidency under the banner of Peace with Nature, including nature-climate policy and action alignment, involvement of finance and business sectors, and making the COP truly a Peoples COP, with fully participation of indigenous people and local communities.  

We welcome your leadership, support, and collaboration on the Nature Pledge and our common efforts to safeguard Nature - the very foundation of our lives, society, and economy.  

Thank you.