UNEP Factsheet
May 2020

Enhancing Nationally Determined
Contributions through Nature-BasedSolutions and Resource Efficiency“Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement remain our onlyoption for a durable recovery."
UNEP Executive Director, Inger Andersen
COVID-19 presents challenges to achieving theobjectives of the Paris Agreement and Nationally
Determined Contributions (NDCs). Recovery fromthe pandemic requires rethinking the way in which
we generate wealth, and shifting our relationshipwith nature. Nature-based solutions are an
innovative way of minimizing fallout from the crisis;
and ecosystem services are critical to preventing
future economic impacts from climate change andfuture pandemics. There are many opportunities torestore and repair ecological infrastructure.
Research shows that for every dollar spent on
nature restoration, at least US$9 of economic
benefits can be expected (Strategy of the UN
Decade on Ecosystem Restoration).

COVID-19, Nationally Determined
Contributions and Nature-Based Solutions
NDCs are at the heart of the Paris Agreement andembody efforts by each country to reducegreenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climatechange. COVID-19 has disrupted the process ofcountries enhancing their NDCs and submitting
more ambitious contributions on the road to the 26th
session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26),
now postponed to 2021. Recovery plans from thepandemic, however, offer opportunities for climate
action on energy and resource efficiency.
Energy and resource efficiency can help us produce
using less raw material and water and contribute toreducing greenhouse gas emissions. Nature-based
solutions provide benefits for communities torecover from COVID-19.

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They support more resilient and sustainable
societies and economies in the long term. Green
infrastructure –forests, wetlands, and mangroves forexample–can perform better and at lower cost thangrey infrastructure for services like flood
management, water purification and storage andirrigation. Finally, energy, resource efficiency andnature-based solutions can support and create jobs,
especially in rural and vulnerable communities.
Nature offers 33 per cent of the solution to climatechange as it has the potential to deliver 12GT ofmitigation. Putting nature into the recovery alsooffers shovel-ready solutions, as employment
schemes such as the National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act in India and the Civilian Conservation
Corps in the United States in the 1930s havedemonstrated.
The UN Climate Action Summit in 2019 brought
unprecedented political attention to nature-based
solutions to address climate change, with more than
70 countries endorsing a manifesto on thesesolutions. A global, multi-sectoral movement istaking shape. Within the nature-based solutions
agenda, forests are the most advanced. Climate
action and achieving the Sustainable Development
Goals requires robust, fit-for-purpose institutional
mechanisms to ensure that policies, technologies
and finance come together to deliver climate anddevelopment outcomes. UN-REDD–the largest UN
inter-agency climate programme working with morethan 60 countries–is well positioned to support
increased ambition and implementation.

UNEP’s Response
UNEP can identify and provide guidance on
economic sectors with the highest potential forresource efficiency, climate mitigation andadaptation, and how to harness climate benefits
from nature-based solutions and use resources
more efficiently to help countries transition togreener, more inclusive economies. UNEP is also
working to develop a strong signal on finance andinvestment to enable countries to meet theirclimate commitments. We are coordinating with
the UN Development Programme (UNDP) on theClimate Promise initiative as follows:a. Country-level engagement on the climate andCOVID-19: Identifying a sub-set of countries tostrengthen and accelerate
UNEP/UNDP support. This would include higher
emitters with ongoing work by
UNEP/UNDP on energy, adaptation andresilience, and the Partnership for Action onGreen Economy. Potential countries include:
Argentina, Indonesia, South Africa, Ghana,Thailand, and India. Work with UN-REDD is also
ongoing to enhance NDCs through forests inanother 20 countries. The engagement would
contribute to the outcomes of the climate
strategy developed by EOSG.
• UNEP can help countries target high carbon
and resource intensive sectors using theSCP Hotspots Analysis Tool in recovery
plans that are job-rich and connect acrossclimate, nature and resource efficiency,
including buildings and construction;
tourism; food and agriculture systems; andforests restoration. This includes analyses
to help countries visualize recovery
pathways that drive towards meeting NDCs
and the 2030 agenda.
b. Strengthening political advocacy andengagement on climate and COVID-19: This
could include high-level government
engagement to emphasize that investing inclimate action is a smart response to COVID-19
and that NDCs can be a blueprint for recovery.
We could explore how this could feed into socioeconomic assessments.
• UNEP and partners such as UNDP willdevelop and demonstrate co-benefits ofnature-based solutions commonly employed
for climate change mitigation andadaptation, and assemble evidence to help
quantify their magnitude.

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c. Addressing the decline in ecosystem services:
Climate change creates additional stresses onland, exacerbating existing risks to livelihoods,
biodiversity, human and ecosystem health,infrastructure, and food systems. Investments
should thus connect the biodiversity and climate
agendas early on in the planning cycle. It also
requires that nature-based solutions, therestoration agenda, and biodiversity safeguards
for climate action are part of NDCs.
• Working with investors and Ministries ofFinance to shift investments towards nature
based and climate neutral strategies,
including global platforms such as the Net
Zero Asset Alliance and the Green Fiscal
Policy Network, offering training on green
fiscal policy options, and repurposing fossil
fuel and agricultural subsidies to help create
fiscal space to deal with debt and financerecovery plans.
• UNEP is forging a movement to support
countries on nature-based solutions toscale up ambition, action and participation in
the next 18 months, across the key climate
and nature related milestones in 2020-2021(UNGA/Biodiversity Summit, IUCN Congress,UNEA-5, CBD COP15, UNFCCC COP26, etc.).
It will continue to amplify ambitions andactions in 2021 and beyond. The magnitudeof the crisis demands speed, scale andflexibility. It will also involve working withinternational actors (UN and others) tocreate agents of change at the country level.

Way Forward
UNEP is committed to using its expertise, global
platforms and networks to support countries inmeeting their climate commitments, using COVID-19
response packages to invest in nature-based
solutions and resource efficiency.
Contacts:
Miriam Hinostroza(miriam.hinostrozasuarez@un.org)
Merlyn Van Voore (merlyn.vanvoore2@un.org)
Mario Boccucci (mario.boccucci@un.org)