FEATURE ARTICLES

Infrastructure comprises basic facilities or organizational structures needed for a society’s operation. By this account, nature is arguably the most significant infrastructure sustaining human civilizations. Different ecological systems such as oceans, rivers, forests, mangroves or coral reefs continue to bring critical but largely unpriced ecological services. For example, four billion people still rely on medicines originally found in the natural world, 75 percent of food production depends on pollination by animals in the wild, and land and ocean systems are the most important carbon sinks [IPBES (2020)]. Investing in nature as infrastructure should be as important as investing in conventional grey infrastructure, especially in light of the ongoing degradation of the natural environment and climate change.

Infrastructure drives economic growth and development. It matters for productivity and cost reduction. Some forms of infrastructure enable connections, such as transport and telecommunications, which link people and markets, stimulate information sharing and promote innovation. Other infrastructure services are public goods, such as flood protection, which benefit all firms and households in a non-exclusive manner. Despite such advantages, the environmental impacts of infrastructure systems can also be profoundly harmful. Today, nature is declining at an unprecedented rate because of human activities.

City growth depends on ecosystem services linked to biodiversity and nature. Ecosystems outside of cities are essential for provisioning services, e.g., food and fresh water. Ecosystems in cities are vital in offering regulating services. For example, green spaces and waters regulate local temperature and mitigate urban heat islands effect. City growth, however, profoundly impacts nature. At the city scale, the process encroaches on green spaces, destroys native habitats and fragments remaining natural habitats. At the regional scale, cities shape land use patterns and affect ecosystems beyond urban areas through food and resource demand, pollution and climate change.

Investing in nature-positive projects, nature-based solutions and nature as infrastructure requires significant accumulation and sharing of knowledge, policy intervention, financial resources and coordination among stakeholders. Most of all, finance must support and be aligned with nature-positive outcomes consistent with national development priorities and the Kunming-Montreal framework. Systematic planning and implementation in three key areas are needed.