Nature Positive | Tomohiro Ichinose, Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies
2022.12.20
The 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) has been held in Montreal since December 7, where international biodiversity conservation targets are being discussed. The term "nature positive," which I will introduce here, is gaining attention in this field of biodiversity conservation. It refers to not only halting the loss of biodiversity but also shifting it in a positive direction. We have already lost vast amounts of nature due to human activities. This is the idea that we must not only protect what we have now but also restore nature. This concept of "nature positive" is also attracting attention in the business community. A report published by the World Economic Forum in 2020 stated that more than half of the world's gross domestic product, approximately $44 trillion, is potentially threatened by nature loss. The report also estimates that transitioning to a nature-positive economy could create around 400 million jobs and up to $10 trillion in annual business opportunities by 2030.
This idea of restoring lost nature is not particularly new. Environmental mitigation is one example of a system that has been introduced in various countries. It involves restoring nature lost to development, either within or outside the development site, and is conducted as part of what is known as an environmental assessment. It operates in many countries as a system to mitigate the destruction of nature caused by development. At a minimum, an amount of nature equivalent to that lost to development must be restored, which is known as the principle of "no net loss." This initiative began in the United States, targeting wetlands. Some states in the US also have a system called mitigation banking, where units of nature to be lost or restored are established and traded as credits. In the environmental field, carbon offsetting, which involves trading carbon dioxide emission rights, has been introduced globally, but mitigation banking was put into practical use earlier. The idea of globally introducing this method as biodiversity offsetting is also on the table for discussion at COP15. However, unlike carbon dioxide, the nature of biodiversity varies completely depending on the ecosystem. For example, if asked whether it is acceptable to develop a Japanese wetland of the same area because a tropical rainforest has been restored in Southeast Asia, most ecologists would say no. Regarding "nature positive," the fundamental question of what metric to use to measure "nature" has not been established at all. Nevertheless, it is clear that the loss of nature on Earth is having a major impact on our lives and economic activities, and we will have no future unless we make a positive shift. This is where our ingenuity comes into play.