The floods in Cebu and the destruction wreaked by typhoon Tino in the rest of Visayas could have been minimized …
Nature investments do not produce the traditional profit or return that we see in accounting books.
But when it comes to the same basics, investing in nature yields profit or economic gains, creates jobs and expands a country’s wealth.
The floods in Cebu and the destruction wreaked by typhoon Tino in the rest of Visayas could have been minimized had forests been restored and waterways cleaned up.
Investing in nature-based solutions (NbS) such as mangrove protection and reforestation are mitigating measures that create livelihoods, reduce disaster risks, save lives and conserve government resources.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) last week patiently explained the link between investing in nature and economic expansion. The bank’s Asia-Pacific Climate Report 2025 offered a 10-year roadmap to integrate nature into the region’s economic and financial systems for a more resilient future.
Protecting ecosystems could unlock major gains in jobs, productivity and fiscal resilience, according to the new ADB report.
Investing in nature is vital, the report notes, as 75 percent of Asia’s output comes from sectors that depend moderately or heavily on nature, which is degrading at an alarming rate.
It’s ADB’s way of saying that nations should protect the environment―a productive asset―to sustain livelihoods and the economy in general.
The report called on governments to make protecting nature a core part of how their economies operate. It urged countries to upgrade their “operating system”―the governance, policy and data foundations that guide investment―to create the enabling conditions for private finance to flow into conservation, resilience, and innovation.
“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,” says ADB chief economist Albert Park.
“Countries that invest in nature are investing in their own competitiveness and fiscal stability,” he said.
ADB sees nature as undervalued and under-financed. Of more than $270 trillion in global financial assets, notes the ADB, about $200 billion a year―less than 1 percent―supports nature-positive investments.
“These include sustainable farming, such as growing diverse crops that improve soil and biodiversity, or using wetlands and mangroves, which not only manage floods but also improve water quality, store carbon, and support fisheries,” says the ADB. Closing the biodiversity and climate financing gap in Asia and the Pacific will require over $1 trillion annually.
The ADB further said that public finance should focus on building the systems that attract private investment. By directing public resources toward governance, policy and data reforms, governments can unlock large-scale private capital for nature-positive growth, the bank said.
The ADB report presents a 10-year road map to help economies bring nature into economic and financial systems, recognizing that each is starting from a different place.
It calls for near-term actions including subsidy reform, natural-capital accounting and planning at the right spatial scale, which can extend beyond national borders.
Longer-term reforms, the bank adds, focus on aligning governance, data and finance to deliver both environmental and economic benefits.
The ADB acknowledged that 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 World Economic Forum (WEF), a non-profit organization, echoed ADB’s concerns. NbS, it says, are the most cost effective tool available to help vulnerable communities adapt to the reality of climate change.
“For example, mangroves, sea grasses and corals provide protection for humans and wildlife from both the causes and effects of climate change,” it says.
The WEF noted that NbS have the potential to supply around one-third of mitigation needs and could save $104 billion in adaptation costs by 2030.
“Degradation of the ocean and marine ecosystems risks costing the global economy around $8.4 trillion over the next 15 years, and the ocean is the most under-funded Sustainable Development Goal (of the United Nations),” the WEF said.
E-mail: rayenano@yahoo.com or extrastory2000@gmail.com
