Transforming policy and investment through mainstreaming rapid approaches for natural capital assessment and accounting The project objective is to contribute to the mainstreaming of natural capital into policy and investment decision-making processes through the development of a standardized framework, customizable tools, and scalable training material for rapid Natural Capital Assessment and Accounting (NCAA). The specific objectives are: (i) contribute to the mainstreaming of natural capital in ten countries through the implementation of rapid approaches for Natural Capital Assessment and Accounting (NCAA) in science-policy processes to inform public policy and investment decisions; and (ii) based on country-specific experiences, provide the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Partnership with a standardized framework, customizable tools, and training curricula for rapid NCAA approaches designed to support the integration of natural capital into policy and investment decision-making processes. In achieving these objectives, the project supports countries enacting the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency. Rapid NCAA approaches provide socio-economic benefits through several avenues. First, integrated teams of technical and policy experts ensure that the benefits of ecosystems to people are explicitly modeled and mapped, providing spatial information on where, and which communities are benefitting (or have lost benefits from) ecosystem services.Many ecosystem benefits are public goods, some also accrue also to the private sector. Rapid NCAA approaches help highlight how decisions in one sector or community can affect another sector or community, improving opportunities for better outcomes for more people and sectors in cost-effective and efficient ways.Understanding how ecosystems benefit particular groups of people will help countries and communities in targeting policies and investments in ecosystems so that the highest priority social and economic goals can be met, including climate adaptation, climate risk resilience, food and water security, livelihood support through tourism, fisheries, agriculture, etc; disaster risk reduction, etc. Priority ecosystem services and communities are defined in rapid NCAA approaches through engagement of diverse stakeholders, including government, private sector, and civil society members representing the breadth of societal interests.The results of a rapid NCAA in any country will be presented in socioeconomic terms that are defined as most influential for decisions by the science-policy integrated team leading the country pilot. These socioeconomic benefits can be expressed in different value currencies, including in terms of the number and characteristics of people affected, and also in terms of monetary values, livelihoods, income, access to markets, or other socio-economic metrics of interest.The second primary way in which rapid NCAA approaches bring socio-economic benefits is through the engagement of key actors in the NCAA science policy process, thereby building lasting capacity in technical and policy expertise for NCAA approaches within the country. Formal and informal, ‘learning-by-doing’ trainings help ensure that diverse stakeholder voices are heard and heeded, and also that policy or finance decisions are informed and implemented. Such broad and meaningful stakeholder engagement is an essential part of ensuring the sustainability of policy and finance interventions, and to effectively manage socio-economic conflicts so that support for implementation is durable over time.