Nature Positive Summit 2024

Introduction

The world’s first Global Nature Positive Summit was held in Sydney, Australia from 8 to 10 October 2024. Norton Rose Fulbright was fortunate to have a number of its lawyers attend the Summit and this article sets out our key takeaways from the two days.

Background to the Summit: Nature conservation and restoration

International environmental leaders and decision-makers (predominantly from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region) across various sectors gathered at the Summit to discuss the need for increased global investment into nature repair and the prevention of biodiversity loss.

The Summit was announced by the Australian Government at the 2022 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), where the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (Framework) was established to accelerate collective action on nature investment (see our previous article on the Framework here).

The key mission of the Framework is to “take urgent action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss to put nature on a path to recovery for the benefit of people and planet by conserving and sustainably using biodiversity and by ensuring the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of genetic resources, while providing the necessary means of implementation”¹ (our emphasis).

Included in the Framework’s 23 global targets to be achieved by 2030 is the goal of 30% conservation of land, ocean, and inland waters, and 30% restoration of degraded ecosystems.² The Framework’s targets will require significant economic investment and a diverse range of stakeholder input, with action needed from both government and the private sector.

The Summit aimed to foster dialogue and knowledge sharing on economic best practices to promote investment in nature and build momentum to meet the Framework’s ambitious targets. A particular focus was also placed on championing Indigenous leadership in driving economic growth and sustainability.

On a broader note, the Summit also re-focused global attention on the goal of being ‘nature positive’. Although this term has not been formally defined internationally, it is understood to refer to the Framework’s goal to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030 on a 2020 baseline and achieve full recovery by 2050.

In Australia, a proposed definition of ‘nature positive’ has been inserted in the draft Nature Positive (Environment Information Australia) Bill 2024 (Cth) as “an improvement in the diversity, abundance, resilience and integrity of ecosystems from a baseline.” In determining whether nature positive is being achieved, regard is to be had to whether there has been an improvement in the diversity, abundance and resilience of species that form part of ecosystems. For more information on the Nature Positive Laws see our previous article.

Overarching takeaways

The Summit made it clear that to achieve the Framework goals, action must be taken urgently by both businesses and government. Furthermore, we noted the following recurring themes from the Summit discussions:

• Stop environmental destruction. We cannot meet the Framework’s mission to “halt and reverse” biodiversity loss without first preventing the destruction of nature. This includes preventing physical acts of destruction of nature by identifying and preventing our impacts on nature (such as stopping land clearing) but also requires addressing the financial settings that ultimately harm nature. For example, EarthTrack reported in September 2024 that $2.6 trillion is spent annually on environmentally harmful subsidies,³ and a key focus at the Summit was the need for these subsidies to stop and for these funds to be invested in nature positive solutions.
• Nature is good for business and for people. Nature needs to be factored into economic and business decisions – we need to understand, measure and report on our economic dependence on nature, impacts on nature and value of ecosystem services our people and economies rely on. There is evidence that when nature is protected and regenerating, economies and people benefit. Businesses may benefit from developing integrated climate, sustainability and nature strategies, that consider the data and metrics needed to identify and report on risks and dependencies on nature to inform the development of nature positive solutions.
• Development of the Nature Repair Market. There is a demand for investment in nature and while the Nature Repair Market (see our previous articles on the Nature Repair Market here and here) is only anticipated to operate from early 2025, investment in nature repair is occurring through innovative finance models such as sustainability loans, nature linked loans and direct lending models.
• Standardise metrics for nature and biodiversity. Universal environmental metrics are needed to help us understand and standardise metrics where possible. Increased data and metrics related to nature will drive the development of finance to allow investment in nature. The Nature Positive Initiative has published a set of metrics to evaluate changes in the state of nature. The Nature Positive Initiative’s mission is “to build consensus on a set of measurable indicators and metrics that capture the effectiveness of our efforts to halt nature loss and set it on a path to recovery, thereby delivering nature positive outcomes. We do not aim to develop new metrics or replace those already in use. Instead, we aim to identify the most robust and credible metrics that are also practical and accessible for users to measure and track changes in the state of nature. These metrics can then be integrated into existing and emerging nature standards and applied widely” (our emphasis). Consultation is currently open on the Nature Positive Initiative’s metrics until 4 November 2024.
• Diverse stakeholder engagement and involvement is necessary, particularly with First Nations people. Indigenous knowledge and leadership are critical to sustainability – they play a vital role in looking after nature and influencing economic outcomes and Indigenous people must have a seat at the table to influence decision making that affects them. Furthermore, this action will need to include learnings, teachings, and inputs from First Nations communities from the outset in order to achieve sustainable and equitable outcomes for nature repair.

Announcements from the Minister

At the Summit, Minister for the Environment, Tanya Plibersek made the following announcements:

• The expansion of the Heard Island and McDonald Island Marine Park by 310 000 km².
• The expansion of 73 000 km² of seas in the South-east Marine Parks Network - fishing, oil and gas exploration, deep sea mining and industrial development will not be permitted in these areas.
• Establishment of the Nature Positive Matters Initiative, consisting of over 20 organisations to support business uptake of nature-related reporting and data collection and to develop tools to help investors understand whether an economic activity is environmentally sustainable.
• Australia will accept Chile’s invitation to join the Leadership for High Seas Marine Protected Area and will hold a research initiative in the South Tasman Sea.

While these announcements are a positive indicator of Australia’s commitment to biodiversity and protecting nature, the key to ensuring these steps result in positive outcomes will be through further steps taken to ensure practical measures are in place to protect the relevant areas.

Looking forward

Biodiversity COP 16

The 2024 United Nations Convention of Biological Diversity (COP 16) will be held in Cali, Colombia from 21 October to 1 November 2024. As noted by the World Wildlife Fund, expectations for COP16 are high - “with biodiversity loss showing no signs of abatement, and suffocating heat waves, droughts and floods gripping communities around the world, COP16 must serve as a moment to bolster equitable action, foster solutions and increase political backbone to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.”

Nature Repair Market

The draft Biodiversity Assessment Instrument and the first method for the Nature Repair Market, the Replanting Native Forest and Woodland Ecosystems, are currently open for consultation. This closes on 30 October 2024.

The Biodiversity Assessment Instrument is intended to set out consistent requirements for how methods assess biodiversity and changes in biodiversity, with this information anticipated to be included in the biodiversity register.

Additional methods in development include methods for:

• Enhancing Remnant Vegetation
• Carbon and Biodiversity (to allow the development of carbon and biodiversity projects on the same land)
• Native Forest
• Invasive Pest Management
• Rangelands

Nature Positive laws

Significant progress is needed for Australia to meet its ‘30% by 2030’ target. A substantial part of this will be via the Australian Government’s proposed staged reforms to the Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Reforms). We previously discussed these reforms in an article about the Nature Positive Laws introduced to Parliament as a part of the EPBC Reforms here.

The draft legislation establishing the Federal EPA and Environment Information Australia was scheduled to come before the Senate on 10 October 2024, but was ultimately not debated as the Senate ran out of time. The Senate will sit again for two weeks commencing 18 November 2024, with the draft legislation anticipated to be discussed then.

While the EPBC Reforms reflect the urgency needed to prevent biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, unfortunately the balance of the reforms has been delayed.

Reporting on nature related dependencies and impacts

The recommendations for reporting on climate related financial disclosures by the Task Force for Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), ultimately resulted in the introduction of mandatory climate related financial reporting in Australia, which we discussed in our previous article here.

With the introduction of the recommendations from the Task Force for Nature Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), financial reporting and disclosures related to impacts and dependencies on nature are anticipated to become mandatory in future. Some entities are already delivering integrated financial reports in accordance with the TCFD and TNFD.

Conclusion

Overall, whilst the Summit demonstrated a growing interest in nature positive reforms and emphasised the need to take urgent action, it also exposed how much progress must be made in the near future to meet the ambitious 2030 targets of the Framework.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Summit, the Nature Repair Market or the EPBC Reforms, please contact a member of NRF’s Environment and Planning team.