Ministers to discuss strategies to overcome regional barriers towards implementing at-scale NbS on the ground

Increasing awareness, delivering on political strategies and attracting greater financing for nature are some barriers identified by nature and climate leaders across four socio-cultural regions ahead of a high-level Ministerial Dialogue to be held at the UNFCCC Climate Change Conference, COP 28. The insights were collected via the Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Implementation Dialogues during each of the UNFCCC Regional Climate Week in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Asia-Pacific throughout the year.  The insights, which delved into political, technological, financial, and social challenges, are now compiled and summarized in a new paper, launched today (4).

The initiative was led by the Nature4Climate coalition, in collaboration with The Climate Champions Team and the COP28 presidency (Nature team), supported by IUCN.  The workshops convened over  150 participants, including representatives from Paris Agreement Parties, non-state actors, and multilateral organizations, to understand and address the main barriers hindering the on-the-ground implementation and acceleration of nature-based solutions (NbS).

The main outcomes of the Implementation Dialogues are as follows:

In May, N4C unveiled the NbS Policy Tracker, analyzing all 598 technical submissions in the Global Stocktake Portal. The analysis involved extracting 186,491 NbS-related sentences from 526 individual Party submission documents. Notably, all 183 Parties had at least one NbS topic mentioned among the 21 topics. The conclusion drawn from the analysis highlighted the absence of critical details regarding implementation plans, policy frameworks, and budgets in the technical submissions. This information is deemed crucial for the Global Stocktake to comprehensively understand the state of NbS implementation alongside broader commitments to enhance ambition.

Nature4Climate also hopes that this paper helps to inform collaboration, cooperation, and partnerships to share knowledge and technical support. Additionally, it aims to unlock targeted resources to advance NbS project pipeline development and on-the-ground delivery.

Ministerial Event

During COP28, under the nature positive banner, Nature4Climate Coalition underscores the importance of implementation—moving from words to action. On December 4th, ministers and high-level state representatives from various countries will convene to discuss barriers and opportunities for enhancing political leadership and implementation of at-scale nature-based solutions. The Implementation Dialogues Summary Paper will be presented to authorities along with a public open letter signed by over 250 leaders outlining key asks to the Paris Agreement Parties, urging them to:

1. Publicly announce and publish plans for the implementation of nature-based solutions.
2. Commit to collaborating with other Parties to deliver finance and share technical support targeted to achieve the greatest impact in protecting, managing, and restoring nature.
3. Implementing ambitious regulatory safeguards which center on Indigenous Peoples and local communities and are legally bound by the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
4. Establish mandatory and voluntary measures to create a level playing field and incentives for businesses and financial institutions to scale their investments towards a nature-positive, net-zero economy.

Led by the Government of Colombia and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, with the support of the  High-level Climate Champions, and the Nature4Climate Coalition, the meeting addresses the need for synergistic and integrated action on nature and climate, following the recent adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) and COP28 Presidency priorities.