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Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

Financial institutions need to pay more attention to biodiversity loss, especially as they prepare for a post-pandemic economic recovery, said a study.

The report, entitled 'Beyond Business as Usual: Biodiversity Targets and Finance'shines a spotlight on the urgent need for financial sector action on biodiversity.

Banks, institutional and other investors and insurers need to understand their impact and dependency on nature, and start setting targets such as 'net positive impact' to achieve international policy goals on biodiversity, finds new research by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Natural Capital Finance Alliance (NCFA).

$44 trillion of economic value generation, more than half the world's GDP, is moderately or highly dependent on nature, yet in less than three generations, human-caused global change has accelerated sharply, altering almost 75% of our planet's surface. The continued degradation of these vital ecosystem services represents an annual loss of at least US$479 billion per year.

Corli Pretorius, Deputy Director, UNEP-WCMC, said: "The COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of our exposure to and the risks created by the loss of nature. We urgently need all sectors of the economy to create better outcomes for people and nature. This report shows that banks, investors, and insurers have a crucial part to play too. By making nature part of its decisions, and setting ambitious targets for biodiv......................

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