Investing in nature can deliver high economic returns, as natural capital underpins growth, livelihoods, fiscal stability, and resilience. Yet, governments face practical challenges in translating this value into development planning, investment decisions, and financial strategies. Building on ADB’s Asia-Pacific Climate Report 2025: Unlocking Nature for Development, this session will focus on how countries can put the economic case for nature into practical action.  

ADB will share how it is working with developing member countries to build the evidence and institutional foundations for this agenda. For example, in the Philippines, ADB has supported natural capital accounting and ecosystem service valuation to strengthen watershed planning, investment prioritization, and the integration of natural capital into national policy and planning. In Mongolia, ADB’s work is building evidence on the links between climate extremes, rangeland condition, livelihoods, and the economic value of ecosystem protection. Building on these foundations, ADB’s next phase of work will connect changes in critical natural systems and ecosystem condition to economic growth, fiscal outcomes, and resilience, giving policymakers a stronger basis to assess the costs of nature degradation and the benefits of protecting and restoring natural capital. The discussion will draw on country engagement to highlight where this evidence can support concrete policy and investment decisions, including priorities for public finance, private investment, and management of nature-related risks.

A high-level panel of government, central bank, and MDB leaders will bring country perspectives to the discussion and explore how better evidence on nature-related risks and opportunities can strengthen economic, fiscal, and financial resilience. Particular attention will be given to strengthening data and institutional capacity, integrating nature into national planning and public investment, and creating the policy and financial conditions needed to mobilize both public and private finance.