We are pleased to share the highlights of our recent lecture at Nagasaki University – Interfaculty Initiative in Planetary Health on 7 January 2025. The lecture, titled “Introduction to Planetary Health – Investing in Nature,” focused on the importance of bankable nature projects and the role of private sector investment in achieving environmental and social impact.
Lecture Highlights
Nature-Based Solutions: Emiko Matsuda’s presentation on nature-based solutions (NbS) was a key part of the lecture. She discussed the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, and how NbS can address these challenges while promoting economic and social development. The importance of private investment in NbS was underscored, with a call to scale up funding to meet global climate and biodiversity goals.
Introduction to Bankable Nature Projects: Our lecture, presented by Jean-Marc Champagne, continued with an overview of the concept of bankable nature projects, emphasizing their commercial viability and positive environmental and social impacts. We discussed the criteria for such projects, including their ability to generate predictable revenues, scale, and replicate.
Current Environmental Risks: We highlighted the pressing environmental risks identified by the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Perception Survey 2023-2024, including extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, and pollution. These risks underscore the urgent need for sustainable investment.
Investment Gaps and Opportunities: A significant portion of our lecture focused on the investment gaps in sustainable development and the need for more commercially viable projects. We illustrated the stark contrast between the required investment of approximately $4.2 trillion and the current investment of $1.7 trillion, highlighting the critical role of private capital in bridging this gap.
Private Sector Engagement: We emphasized the importance of private sector engagement in sustainable projects. The private sector commands vast financial resources and has the potential to drive large-scale environmental impact. We showcased examples of successful projects in sustainable agriculture, waste-to-energy, and alternative protein production.
Case Studies: Our lecture featured several compelling case studies, including:
- Sustainable Palm Sugar Production: Enhancing biodiversity and soil resilience while increasing farmers’ incomes.
- Shade-Grown Coffee Farming: Promoting land resilience and carbon sequestration through agroforestry.
- Black Soldier Fly Facility: Converting food waste into valuable protein sources for animal feed.
- Agricultural Waste-to-Energy: Utilizing rice waste to produce biogas and other related products.
Conclusion
The lecture concluded with a call to action for increased private sector investment in sustainable, bankable projects. The presentations by Emiko Matsuda and Jean-Marc Champagne effectively illustrated the practical applications of these principles through real-world examples. We are optimistic about the potential for these projects to drive significant environmental and social impact and look forward to continuing our work in this critical area.
Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the success of this lecture. If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please feel free to reach out to us.
