The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has launched the 2024-2025 Natural Capital and Biodiversity Mainstreaming Action Plan, which aims to put biodiversity and natural capital more embedded within the Bank’s operations in areas where nature can support economic, social, and climate-smart development. 

The action plan will also help countries achieve their nature-positive objectives.

Aiming for a multifaceted approach, the action plan articulates how the IDB Group will integrate natural capital into its work, from the dialogues it holds with countries to project preparation and implementation, as well as the knowledge products the IDB Group generates, among other actions.  

Latin America and the Caribbean is home to seven of the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots, the region accounts for 40 per cent of the world’s biodiversity, 30 per cent of the freshwater, and almost 50 per cent of the world’s tropical forests.  

However, these natural assets are not being tapped, and nature-based projects in the region are not achieving their full potential, primarily due to a lack of strategy, technical knowledge tailored to the region, installed institutional capacity, and available funding. In some cases, policies and economic incentives still have negative impacts on biodiversity.  

“The Natural Capital and Biodiversity Action Plan is a huge step for the IDB Group in its commitment with nature,” said Ana María Ibáñez, IDB vice president for sectors and knowledge. “We have confidence that the action plan will result in projects that not only enhance quality of life and regenerate biodiversity, but also offer economic development opportunities for people throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.” 

Biodiversity plays a crucial role in the region’s development and provides livelihood to diverse populations. About 20 per cent of the jobs in the region are heavily dependent on ecosystem services, with a significant portion held by vulnerable populations such as the 42 million indigenous inhabitants of the region.  

Biodiversity and institutional strategy 

Recently, the IDB Group launched its new institutional strategy, highlighting biodiversity, natural capital, and climate action as vertical priorities and cross-cutting issues to be mainstreamed throughout the portfolio in diverse sectors and countries, to support countries in harmonizing economic growth with environmental preservation and restoration.  

The strategy establishes that the IDB Group will support the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, work to reduce biodiversity loss, promote the transition to nature-positive economic models, integrate biodiversity values into policies, regulations, and fiscal planning, support policy coherence across sectors, and leverage public and private sector capabilities to drive investment into sustainable development efforts.  

The Natural Capital and Biodiversity Mainstreaming Action Plan is a roadmap to support the implementation of these institutional commitments, and also marks an important step in the IDB’s implementation of the MDB Joint Statement on Nature, People, and Planet, which IDB led at Climate COP 26. The action plan will be reviewed by the IDB every two years to reevaluate socioeconomic and environmental conditions in Latin America and analyse the achievements, limitations and areas for improvement. 

As the region moves towards the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Cali, Colombia, scheduled for October and November, the IDB Group reaffirms its commitment to positioning the region as a nature powerhouse that generates jobs, provides economic opportunities and becomes nature-positive.