Investing in nature could unlock major gains in jobs, productivity and fiscal resilience in the Asia-Pacific region, according to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report released Thursday.
The ADB’s Asia-Pacific Climate Report 2025: Unlocking Nature for Development noted that 75 percent of the region’s output comes from “moderately” or “heavily” nature-dependent sectors.
Despite this reliance, nature remains undervalued and underfinanced. Only $200 billion of more than $270 trillion of global financial assets is being allotted for nature-positive investments, the bank said.
This translates to less than 1 percent of the region’s total assets supporting investments like sustainable farming.
Closing the gap between biodiversity and climate financing in Asia and the Pacific will require an annual funding of over $1 trillion, with public resources focused toward governance, policy and data reforms that attract private investment.
“Healthy ecosystems are not environmental extras in the region’s growth story. They are productive assets at the core of Asia’s growth and resilience,” said ADB chief economist Albert Park.
“Countries that invest in nature are investing in their own competitiveness and fiscal stability,” said Park.
The report calls on governments across the Asia-Pacific region to make protecting nature a core part of their economic operations and to upgrade the operating systems guiding investments in their economies.
These include their governance, policy, and data foundations that can help create enabling conditions for a conservation-, innovation- and resilience-focused private finance.
The report also cited the need for near-term actions including subsidy reform, natural-capital accounting, and planning at the right spatial scale.
“Economies in Asia and the Pacific are already taking steps to value nature as productive capital and are well positioned to lead the world in upgrading their economic systems to sustain long-term prosperity,” the ADB said.
