Earth Today | Bleeding nature - Report calls for policy, regulatory shifts

IN PURSUIT of a nature-positive economy, the role of governments to design the policy and regulatory environment is key.

This is according to 2026 State of Finance for Nature report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which paints a picture of nature outside the black, in the face of prevailing climate change and other environmental stressors that hold significant negative implications for both human and planetary health.

“Governments should support the development of a global standard on nature … . Biodiversity should be embedded in central bank and financial supervisory mandates to mainstream nature into supervisory frameworks and monetary policies. Metrics on biodiversity impacts and dependencies could become part of portfolio management and drive financial sector alignment,” the report said.

“This includes requiring all large companies and financial institutions to systematically assess, monitor and publicly disclose their nature-related risks, impacts, dependencies and opportunities by enacting binding disclosure laws and harmonising standards,” it added.

The report has also cautioned against public and private finance working against each other in the absence of the appropriate policy and regulatory environment.

“Nature-positive outcomes should be mainstreamed, and policy coherence prioritised across ministries including ministries of finance … . Improving collaboration and governance frameworks for the protection and management of shared and transboundary natural resources is critical for ensuring sound ecosystem management. Mainstreaming of nature across the global economic agenda can help identify and phase out nature-negative finance … ,” the report said.

The suggestions come against the background of a reported US$1 investment in nature-positive solutions for every US$30 invested in activities that are harmful to nature.

Stephen Jones, managing director of Environmental Solutions Limited, has agreed with the report, noting that to correct the investment imbalance requires governments’ input, and adding that those from small island developing states (SIDS) must also work together to achieve success.

“That imbalance is structural, built by policy – and only government can unwind it. The shift required is to treat natural assets as productive economic infrastructure, and environmental risk as pricing signal rather than deal friction. For SIDS, collaboration is non-negotiable: watersheds, coastlines and climate risk don't stop at borders, and no Caribbean economy is large enough alone,” he told The Gleaner.

Dr Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie, chief executive officer of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), agreed, while noting what she said may be a recent lost opportunity for Jamaica.

“The UNEP report makes clear that we are far off track in financing nature. Jamaica’s experience with Hurricane Melissa shows exactly what that means in practice: when nature-based solutions (NbS) are underfunded, the costs of recovery skyrocket, with billions now being mobilised just to rebuild. Yet our National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) Bill, whose stated focus is on resilience and ‘building back better’ after Hurricane Melissa, does not even list the environment – and, by environment, I mean ecosystems – among the priority sectors. That omission is telling,” she said.

“Investment prioritisation must be informed by where the greatest impacts and losses have occurred, and where interventions can most effectively strengthen recovery capacity, particularly for vulnerable communities,” Rodrguez-Moodie added.

“Investing in NbS is cost-effective insurance against escalating climate and biodiversity crises. Leaving the environment outside NaRRA’s priority sectors shows why UNEP’s warning matters; we cannot build resilience if nature is treated as optional,” the JET boss said further.

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