At the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025, ENACT Partners shared first-hand lessons from the field, exploring what distinguishes successful Nature-based Solutions from those that fall short — and how to drive systemic change for climate, people and nature.
Rethinking Nature-Based Solutions for Transformation
At the heart of the ENACT Partnership lies a shared conviction: that Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are among humanity’s most powerful tools to jointly address climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation. Opening the session, IUCN’s Global Policy Lead on Climate Change, Sandeep Sengupta, underscored how ENACT bridges ambition and implementation, uniting governments and partners to accelerate system-wide climate action grounded in nature.
From Egypt to Germany, leaders echoed the urgency to invest in nature-positive action and strengthen coordination across the Rio Conventions. ENACT Co-Chair Her Excellency Dr Manal Awad Mikhail, Minister of Local Development and Acting Minister of the Environment, Egypt, highlighted the partnership’s origins as a global call to expand NbS and bridge the gap between high-level ambition and on-the-ground results.
Echoing this vision, Co-Chair Oliver Conz of Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUKN) emphasised that nature remains humanity’s most powerful ally in addressing the interconnected crises of climate and biodiversity. He stressed that the task ahead is not only to scale up solutions grounded in nature, but to act with the urgency these challenges demand — ensuring that NbS are central to both national strategies and global cooperation.
The announcement of Armenia’s entry into ENACT, presented by Ambassador Mher Margaryan, marked another step forward in expanding collective global efforts. With Armenia preparing to host the CBD COP17, the country’s commitment to embedding NbS across national strategies signalled new opportunities for integrated policy action.
Unpacking What Works: Designing NbS for Systemic Change
In a keynote address, Stewart Maginnis, IUCN’s Deputy Director General, called for a “clarion shift” toward transformational change. He emphasised that effective NbS go beyond isolated projects — they require systemic thinking that links policy, finance, and governance with ecological and social integrity.
Maginnis noted that the IUCN Global Standard for NbS provides a vital framework to design and assess solutions that deliver across climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development agendas. The standard, he said, embeds principles such as interconnectedness, equity, and reciprocity between people and nature — essential ingredients for long-term transformation.
Catalysts for Change: Turning Local Lessons into Global Standards
Kerry Max of Global Affairs Canada shared lessons from national programmes such as the 2 Billion Trees Initiative and Cariboo Carbon Solutions, illustrating how large-scale, community-led restoration can generate climate, biodiversity, and social benefits. However, he noted that successful implementation hinges on clear standards, strong data, and sustained capacity building.
Angela Andrade, Former Chair of IUCN’s Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM), stressed that ecosystem integrity and social justice must remain at the heart of every NbS — with local communities empowered to lead design and stewardship.
Alfredo Redondo, from the High-Level Climate Champions team, highlighted the COP30 Action Agenda as a key vehicle to move from pledges to delivery, mobilising society-wide efforts and aligning global ambition with tangible results on the ground.
From Blue Carbon to Green Cities: Scaling Up for People and Planet
From Japan, Professor Atsuhiro Yoshinaka presented the Yamagawa “Sea Cradle” Blue Carbon Project, demonstrating how locally driven initiatives can align with national frameworks to deliver multiple co-benefits for climate, biodiversity, and livelihoods.
Melissa De Kock of UNEP-WCMC pointed out that to truly scale NbS, we must move beyond the environmental sector and be embedded within national development plans and budgets. She emphasised the importance of rights-based, co-created approaches that ensure long-term impact and social equity.
Urban solutions also took centre stage. Jun Hashimoto from Shimizu Corporation reflected on how corporate green spaces and urban nature can strengthen human–nature reciprocity and improve collective wellbeing.
Closing the round, Liette Vasseur, Chair of IUCN CEM, reiterated that inclusive ecosystem governance — led by communities and Indigenous Peoples — is fundamental to sustaining the gains of NbS.
From Fragmentation to Transformation
As the session concluded, Mr Sengupta reflected that achieving the 2030 goals demands a transformation in how societies design, finance, and govern NbS. ENACT, he affirmed, offers both a political platform and a practical mechanism to operationalise that change.
Looking ahead to COP30, ENACT will launch its NbS Accelerator Pathways Report, a landmark publication outlining actionable steps to scale NbS globally through real-world case studies and systems-based frameworks.
ENACT continues to unite partners in advancing a collective vision: that well-designed, inclusive, and science-based Nature-based Solutions can turn global ambition into transformation — for people, for climate, and for nature. Learn more about the ENACT Partnership.