-says policies, private capital, development finance must work together to close funding gaps
STRONGER public policies, development financing, private-sector investment and innovation are needed to close the funding gap for biodiversity conservation and ensure that the protection of natural resources turns into tangible economic and social benefits.
This was the sentiment expressed by Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group Country Representative Lorena Solórzano Salazar on the most recent episode of the Starting Point podcast.
Salazar made the remarks while discussing the role of the Global Biodiversity Alliance, an initiative intended to bring countries and institutions together to advance biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
She highlighted Guyana as an example of how strategic environmental stewardship could be connected to economic development. “I think that the Global Biodiversity Alliance comes at a very important moment worldwide. The challenge today is not just about the ambition and commitment that we can have on biodiversity, but to translate those commitments into implementation, into investments and measurable development goals that we can have today,” she said.
Salazar explained that biodiversity must be recognised as an economic asset rather than treated solely as an environmental concern. She was keen to emphasise that natural resources significantly support livelihoods as well as food production, water availability, energy security and numerous income-generating activities.
She said the destruction of natural resources and increasing pollution of the air, water and oceans pose challenges that require countries to reconsider how they incorporate nature into development planning.
According to her, governance and public policy are important to creating the conditions for investments that protect natural resources while supporting economic activities. Governments and development partners, she noted, must direct financing towards areas where nature is a priority and incorporate biodiversity considerations into various sectors, allowing environmental sustainability to produce practical results. “The governance of this space is relevant to enabling the environment, but also to closing financing gaps in this space,” Salazar said.
The IDB representative stated that the growing recognition of biodiversity as an economic and financial priority is encouraging, particularly for Latin America and the Caribbean, where natural resources support millions of livelihoods and contribute to several industries.
Tourism, agriculture, food production and energy are among the activities that depend on healthy ecosystems, making conservation relevant to countries’ long-term economic prospects. However, she noted that the scale of financing required remains a major challenge and could not be addressed by a single institution. The priority, she said, was to build on the existing interest in biodiversity financing and turn it into concrete investment and measurable results.
“It is also an economic and financial priority. Particularly for the Caribbean and Latin American countries, the Region’s biodiversity and nature capital sustain millions of livelihoods, support income-generating activities, food, energy and different industries. Tourism is one of them, among others,” she said, adding, “There is no single institution that can close that gap, and we need to collaborate to address this.”
Turning to Guyana, Salazar described the country as an important example of how natural capital could be connected to development. She said the IDB had been a long-standing development partner and had supported efforts to strengthen the country’s institutions and technical capacity, including work related to forest monitoring and reporting. She pointed to the REDD+ Investment Fund and earlier collaboration with Guyana and the Guyana Forestry Commission to develop a framework for monitoring and reporting on forests. Such systems, she explained, are important not only for collecting information but also for connecting forest conservation to wider development outcomes and international partnerships, including Guyana’s co-operation with Norway.
Salazar said Guyana’s experience demonstrated how environmental stewardship could support broader development priorities, including the preservation of forests and the expansion of renewable energy.
She noted that the country had been working to connect forest conservation with practical outcomes and said that the opportunity for Guyana extends beyond financing individual conservation projects to strengthening the information systems, institutions and financing arrangements needed to connect its natural capital with long-term development.
“Guyana is a particularly compelling example of how to work between nature capital and its experience connecting environmental stewardship with development. We have been a long-standing development partner for Guyana, and we are very happy that Guyana is open to our collaboration,” she said, adding, “We have been working to support the institutionality of the country and also its technical foundation.”
On collaborative financing, Salazar called for the creation of an enabling environment in which public policy, development finance, private capital and innovation could work together to develop appropriate solutions. Governments, she explained, have a critical role in establishing policies and institutional frameworks that allow financial institutions and private businesses to participate in conservation and identify alternative financing mechanisms.
“The real opportunity is not simply to find more money for biodiversity, but it is to create the environment and the conditions for different sorts of financial instruments that can support the country’s biodiversity and development priorities at a scale,” she further said, adding, “Capital will not flow by itself without the right environment, the right conditions and the critical role of the public sector,” she said.
According to her, the IDB could help bring public and private partners together to explore market mechanisms and financing solutions.
Salazar further emphasised that biodiversity challenges cross national borders, requiring international co-operation among governments and institutions. Forests, rivers, oceans and wildlife form interconnected ecosystems, making the exchange of knowledge and data important to identifying effective conservation approaches. Through the Global Biodiversity Alliance, she said, countries could share experiences and explore ways to preserve forests and maintain healthy ecosystems while creating jobs, supporting businesses and generating economic growth. “Nature is not separate from development. It is one of its foundations,” she said, warning that continued biodiversity loss would affect food systems, health and ecosystems, while making restoration more costly in the future.
“If we do not act together, we will continue losing nature. To recover nature is going to cost more. It will affect food, health and the ecosystem,” Salazar said.
She emphasised that protecting biodiversity should not be viewed as a choice between conservation and development, but as an investment in the natural assets that make sustainable economic growth possible.
