INNOVATIVE FINANCE FOR NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS ACROSS ASIA PACIFIC

Our region is at the forefront of both climate vulnerability and opportunity. No single sector can address the more than USD4 trillion annual collective gap in global finance needed to address the climate, biodiversity and human development crises facing our world today. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are a proven, cost-effective approach to building climate resilience through the protection, regeneration and sustainable management of ecosystems that also provide social and economic benefits. A growing body of evidence also shows that NbS that are led by and centred on the needs of Indigenous people and local communities are both more just and more effective. However, while there has been a growing interest in natural capital markets and NbS, long-term financing for high-integrity, community-led NbS has been elusive.

To address these challenges and opportunities, WWF-Australia hosted an event in Sydney on 23 March 2026. Bringing together 50 leaders from government, finance, philanthropy and business to join the WWF CEOs and Board members from the Asia–Pacific (WWF’s AP30) for keynotes, panel and roundtable discussions. Together, we explored how to unlock finance and scale high integrity, community centred Nature-based Solutions driving a nature positive future, boosting climate resilience and supporting shared prosperity.

The session featured insights from experts from Australia and the wider Asia–Pacific region, followed by small group roundtable discussions designed to surface practical pathways to mobilise capital for scaling high integrity, community centred Nature based Solutions.

This event aimed to catalyse cross-sector partnerships and actionable strategies to accelerate investment flows, strengthen community resilience and position the region as a leader in sustainable development and inclusive climate action.

Starting with a keynote presentation by Adil Najam, Global President, WWF where he argued that global turbulence is no longer temporary but the reality shaping how the world operates. Geopolitical instability, weakened multilateral systems, and shrinking international support now form the context for action, not a passing moment. Returning to a pre‑crisis “normal,” he suggested, is neither possible nor desirable.

Rather than becoming consumed by crisis, Najam urged us to focus on shaping what comes next. He framed WWF’s Roadmap 2030 as an invitation to experiment with new approaches that respond to today’s constraints while remaining true to mission.

Najam cautioned against treating nature as a softer substitute for climate action. Credibility depends on clear measurement of impact, recognising communities as central investors in nature, and articulating returns that prioritise nature itself alongside human wellbeing.

He proposed three hard questions that must guide the future credibility and scalability of nature‑based solutions:

1. What are the numbers?
2. Who are the investors?
3. What is the return?

He closed by returning to WWF’s founding purpose: understanding and strengthening the relationship between people and nature. That relationship, he argued, must be reframed as a symbiosis, not one of control or separation. Nature is not something “out there” to be visited, it is the water we drink, the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the systems that sustain or undermine human wellbeing.

Nicole Forrester, Chief Regenerative Officer, WWF-Australia followed Adil, grounding the global conversation on nature‑based solutions in lived local experience, showing how NbS operate for communities facing daily climate risk. She positioned NbS not as abstract policy tools, but as practical, place‑based systems that sustain livelihoods, culture, and ecosystems at once.

Drawing on WWF’s work across the Asia–Pacific, she highlighted how Indigenous and community‑led approaches, from cultural fire management in Australia to coastal resource governance in the Solomon Islands, combine traditional knowledge with modern tools to reduce risk and build resilience. These solutions deliver multiple returns, are often more cost‑effective than engineered alternatives, and endure because ownership sits locally.

Forrester concluded that community-led NbS are not optional conservation add‑ons, but essential risk‑reduction infrastructure. In a turbulent world, centring the leadership, expertise, and agency of Indigenous peoples and local communities is critical to strengthening ecosystems, supporting livelihoods, and building long‑term stability.

These presentations were complemented by a Panel discussion that explored how to mobilise capital for NbS at scale, drawing on perspectives from government, institutional investment, philanthropy and WWF country leadership. Facilitated by Eytan Lenko, Chairperson Boundless and Co-Chair of AEGN, the discussion shifted decisively from why NbS matter to what structurally prevents capital from flowing and what needs to change.

Will Nankervis, Australia’s Ambassador for Climate Change (DFAT) spoke from a government and development finance perspective, acknowledging that while Australia’s climate finance commitments have been growing, public finance alone cannot close the NbS funding gap. While Liz O’Leary Global Chair of Agriculture and Natural Assets, Macquarie Asset Management focused on why large‑scale institutional capital remains cautious, despite strong interest in nature. A recurring insight she stressed was the danger of over‑complexity: while NbS projects are inherently place‑based and relational, complexity in storytelling signals risk to investors. Aggregation and simplification are essential if capital is to scale.

Lisa Miller, CEO, Wedgetail, spoke from a philanthropic and catalytic capital perspective, positioning philanthropy as a test‑bed for new financing models. Lisa framed philanthropy as a space to test new financing models that can later be scaled. She argued that scaling does not mean losing relationships or local grounding, but it does require more intentional system design, including regional aggregation of projects and clearer pathways for follow‑on capital.

Trin Custodio, Executive Director, WWF Philippines addressed the capacity gap that often sits between large pools of capital and community‑based implementation. She highlighted the importance of intermediaries and federated models, citing Indigenous and regional coalitions supported by trusted organisations (including WWF) as a way to bridge scale without displacing community leadership.

The panel concluded that while interest in nature finance is high, systems, institutions and narratives have not yet caught up. Unlocking scale will require coordinated action across policy, finance, philanthropy and community‑led implementation.

Following the panel, participants broke into small roundtables to reflect on what had brought them to the conversation, what challenged their thinking about scaling Nature‑based Solutions, and what it would take to move NbS from promising pilots to durable scale without losing community leadership and integrity.

Discussions explored how public funding, philanthropy and private capital need to better align, and surfaced practical interventions that participants could help advance over the next 6–12 months, including what now feels harder, and what feels newly possible.

Across discussions, there was strong consensus that NbS offer a uniquely integrative pathway for addressing climate change, biodiversity loss and community livelihoods simultaneously. Participants were particularly encouraged by emerging examples where NbS has moved beyond pilots through blended finance, aggregation, and supply-chain approaches. At the same time, participants were candid about persistent structural barriers, particularly around scaling while maintaining community leadership, trying to achieve long-term outcomes with short-term project financing, aligning different forms of capital, and valuing nature in ways that unlock long-term investment.

Overall, the roundtables highlighted both urgency and opportunity: urgency to move beyond fragmented, short-term efforts and opportunity for organisations such as WWF and partners to play a catalytic role in shaping high-integrity, scalable NbS pathways.

Participants were optimistic that nature‑based solutions offer a credible way to deliver climate, biodiversity, resilience and livelihoods outcomes together. This confidence was reinforced by early evidence of NbS scaling through appropriate finance and growing recognition of nature risk from investors, alongside the valued role of trusted intermediaries in enabling high‑integrity delivery.

Participants identified significant challenges in scaling NbS while maintaining community leadership, integrity and long‑term impact. Key concerns included the dominance of short‑term pilots, misalignment between different forms of capital and structural barriers to valuing nature in ways that attract sustained investment. These challenges were seen as systemic rather than technical, requiring changes in funding models, incentives and time horizons.

Participants emphasised the need to design NbS for scale from the outset, supported by aggregation, blended finance and stronger intermediaries that can bridge communities and capital. Priority actions focused on aligning different funding sources, reducing transaction costs and combining credible measurement with compelling storytelling to unlock sustained investment and policy support.

A recurrent theme was that scaling NbS is fundamentally a systems change challenge, requiring conservation, finance, policy and communities to develop shared language and expectations. Participants observed that the most promising NbS efforts are those embedded in real social and economic systems rather than stand-alone conservation projects.

There was also a strong sense that climate, nature and social agendas are increasingly converging and that NbS efforts should adopt integrated framing and avoid reinforcing silos between environmental, climate, and development objectives.

Together, the discussions reinforced a clear message: scaling high‑integrity, community‑centred nature‑based solutions is not a question of intent, but of design, alignment and leadership.

Mobilising finance at scale will require systems change, simpler pathways for capital, stronger intermediaries, credible measurement, and genuine partnerships with Indigenous peoples and local communities at the centre.

As climate, nature and development agendas increasingly converge, WWF and its partners are well placed to play a catalytic role: shaping solutions that move beyond pilots, reduce risk, and deliver enduring outcomes for people, nature and prosperity across the Asia–Pacific.