The Olympics have always been a source of devotion and inspiration, evoking countless emotions that encourage us to take on new challenges and rethink our routines. In the past two weeks, the games in Paris have given us a lesson in resilience—not just pure resistance. From Céline’s magical return to the stage during the opening ceremony to Simone’s showing the perfect balance of mind and body, dazzling on the bars. A key element of the athletes’ resilience seems to be finding the optimal combination of physical and mental health, allowing them to perform at their best.
Just like human systems, complex natural systems such as tropical ecosystems also need a ‘thermostat’ that helps regulate their resilience levels. However, unlike human systems, natural ecosystems don’t necessarily need to be challenged by external factors to develop the resilience that allows them to overcome difficulties. In many cases, the integrity of the ecosystem determines its resilience.
Sports science teaches us that rest is a key factor in increasing athletes’ resilience. This rest is also crucial for critical global ecosystems like Amazonia. However, Amazonia is facing pressures that go against this necessary rest: a series of severe droughts and floods that are expected to worsen with climate change. This involves a sequence of events starting with prolonged droughts, abrupt drops in river water levels, changes in aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity dynamics, and the proliferation of forest fires, leading to a loss of natural system integrity and, therefore, weakening its resilience, that structural ability to recover.
Why Is the Connection Between Climate and Nature So Important?
The resilience of Amazonia reminds us of the importance of the link between nature and climate. Biodiversity, expressed at different levels, is a key element of integrity and therefore resilience against climatic events, as it protects us.
While the connection between climate and nature is unquestionable at a territorial level, international policy frameworks do not necessarily reflect this link in a coordinated and coherent manner. This lack of convergence between climate and nature agendas can create additional risks when designing responses, actions, and climate policies that do not recognize the value of biodiversity, both for economies and society.
Internalizing and demonstrating the link between climate and biodiversity is key to financing in Amazonia. The dichotomy between the existence of pristine primary ecosystems and the need for Amazonian cities to offer access to affordable services is, and has been, a constant challenge. Droughts are a disruptive factor in these basic services, including transportation, access to health and education services. The challenge for people, nature, and climate demands a quality of public and private spending that responds to the needs of socio-environmental protection. Valuing biodiversity as it deserves and is required could provide that needed protection.
This year is crucial to demonstrating progress in articulating the relationship between climate and nature. While COP29 on climate change in Baku is expected to pave the way for a new collective quantitative goal on climate finance, COP16 on Biodiversity in Cali gives countries in the region a unique opportunity to demonstrate the connection between climate and nature. This will be key as countries prepare to update their national climate change commitments and get ready for COP30 in Belém in 2025. As they review their climate ambitions, Amazonian countries will have another opportunity to reflect nature and biodiversity in their climate goals. This also presents enormous opportunities to close the biodiversity financing gap and for the Amazonia region and Latin America and the Caribbean to become a hub of solutions toward net-zero emissions and nature-positive economies.
The IDB Group Elevates Ambition on Nature
The IDB Group is committed to positioning the region as a nature superpower, aiming to generate a positive impact on biodiversity and improve the well-being of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean. This year, a new institutional strategy was launched that places biodiversity, natural capital, and climate action as priority and cross-cutting themes that must be present on the agenda of various sectors and countries. Likewise, the recent Action Plan aims to integrate biodiversity and natural capital into the IDB Group’s operations in key areas where nature can drive economically, socially, and climatically intelligent development. This action plan should also accelerate countries’ efforts to achieve goals that promote a positive impact on nature.
Amazonia Forever is a comprehensive umbrella program of the IDB Group dedicated to the sustainable development of the Amazonia region, with the goal of contributing to forest conservation and climate action while offering economic alternatives to improve the quality of life of communities. Since its launch, the IDB Group has worked to incorporate nature into various areas of the program. The team in charge of mainstreaming nature collaborates with project teams and creates knowledge products to support program implementation.
Moreover, we have developed climate innovation instruments to support our member countries and the region’s private sector, including sustainability-linked bonds, debt-for-nature swaps, exchange rate risk coverage, and, for the first time, our governors have approved the use of our own capital to pay for climate and natural outcomes integrated into our operations through IDB CLIMA.
Olympic athletes are now enjoying their well-deserved rest before the next reunion. However, what cannot wait four years are our Amazonian ecosystems. The IDB and countries have a short window of opportunity to ensure their resilience, with a region that has the solutions and natural resources to do so sustainably.
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