Research Project (Ongoing)

Joint Study with Brookings Institution on “Nature and People”

Preserving nature and enhancing its contribution to human well-being are explicitly recognized in the SDGs, notably through Goals 14 and 15. The 2022 Kunming-Montreal biodiversity framework set updated targets for 2030 while the 2024 UN-CBD COP16 in Colombia and Brazil-hosted G20 deepened policy understanding of key issues. But nature and nature-based solutions, and the impact they have on people, are still not adequately integrated into sustainable development policies and processes. This includes priorities for financing, which remain more contentious and aspirational than evidence-based and programmed. Better insights can inform future global sustainable development frameworks.

Integrating nature into sustainable development is likely to be a key concept in any post-2030 global goals. A publication on this topic will complement the preceding seven collaborative volumes to provide critical insights to support the conversations around these potential goals.

The research outcome will be released as a publication jointly edited by Homi Kharas, Brookings CSD Senior Fellow; John W. McArthur, CSD Director and Senior Fellow; Julie McCarthy, CSD Non-resident Fellow (and CEO of NatureFinance); and Ichiro Sato, Executive Senior Research Fellow of the JICA Ogata Research Institute.