On September 21st I will be speaking at the “Valuing Natural Capital Conference” in Geneva, hosted by Geneva Macro Labs in collaboration with ILO, UNITAR, UNCDF, Harvard University, FootPrint Coalition and ServiceNow. My presentation will focus on the role of marine natural capital in mitigating climate change, drawing on insights from my work leading Economist Impact’s World Ocean Initiative.
Natural resources are a gamechanger in the fight against climate change. Ocean-based natural assets, such as mangroves and seagrass, as well as land-based natural assets, such as elephants and soil, function as carbon sinks and contribute significantly to biodiversity. However, their contributions to stabilising our climate are not properly valued, causing ecological damage. The conference will focus on finding innovative governance and financial solutions to protect their ecological services.
The multi-stakeholder event with high-level policymakers, business leaders, civil society and academics will address:
• Natural reserves and protected areas
• Environmental taxation
• Payment for ecosystem services
• Supply-chain management for protection
• Financial solutions such as Decentralised Finance (DeFi), Social Climate Fund and green bonds
• Workforce adaptation to climate change
The keynotes will be delivered by Federico Bonaglia, deputy director of the OECD Development Centre, and Ralph Chami, assistant director at the International Monetary Fund and co-founder of Rebalance Earth, followed by four in-depth panels:
Panel 1: Economic and ecological significance of Natural Capital and Biodiversity (my panel)
Panel 2: Governance mechanisms for conservation of natural resources
Panel 3: Innovative Finance – Financial mechanisms, issues and solutions
Panel 4: Creating triple wins – Good for Government/Industry, Good for People/Labour, Good for the Environment
More details here: https://tech.forum/gemlabs-vnc2022/
