The social, environmental and economic imperative for change

Within natural systems, the ocean plays a particularly critical role. Covering 71% of Earth’s surface and home to roughly 80% of all life, the ocean is central to climate regulation and biodiversity. The global ocean economy, currently valued at over $2 trillion and having doubled in the last three decades, supports millions of jobs and underpins the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.3

What is biodiversity and why is it important? 

Biodiversity is the variety of all living species within an ecosystem that underpin its stability, productivity, and resilience. Healthy ecosystems, rich in biodiversity, perform essential functions such as nutrient cycling and photosynthesis, and provide critical services including climate regulation, water purification, a source of food, and clean air. When biodiversity declines, ecosystems weaken and their ability to deliver these services diminishes. Human-driven pressures like climate change, pollution, and overexploitation are major drivers of biodiversity loss. Because biodiversity is a key indicator of ecosystem health, its decline is widely used in science and policy to signal broader nature loss.4

We have collectively failed to engage with nature and ocean systems sustainably.5 Biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history, with average extinction rates 100-1,000 times6 higher than the past tens of millions of years. Perhaps because the oceans appear vast, powerful, and unchanging, there has been a false sense of resilience, leading to widespread neglect and overexploitation.

Climate, biodiversity, and water, food, and health systems are deeply interconnected – changes in one area can trigger cascading effects across the others. Ocean systems provide a compelling illustration of these interconnections. Rising temperatures and increased CO2 absorption create more acidic, oxygen-poor seawater, whilst sea level rise threatens both marine ecosystems and coastal human communities. These climate-driven changes reduce marine habitat areas, diminish biodiversity, and disrupt ecosystem functioning. The resulting environmental degradation creates cascading socioeconomic impacts across food security, fisheries, local cultures, and recreation. Indigenous peoples and coastal communities face particularly severe consequences, as these populations depend directly on marine resources for their health, wellbeing, and livelihoods.

Nature’s continued decline represents an existential threat to human wellbeing and economic prosperity. Planetary boundaries, the thresholds that define the safe limits of Earth’s critical systems7 such as climate change and ocean acidification, are being exceeded with many ecosystems at imminent risk of irreversible tipping points8, with catastrophic consequences for economies and societal wellbeing.10 Low and middle income countries face the greatest vulnerability due to their greater reliance on local natural resources, highlighting the social injustice dimensions of ecological breakdown. $44 trillion (over 50% of global GDP) is moderately or highly dependent on the ecosystem services that nature provides. A collapse of ecosystem services would cost 2.3 percent of global GDP ($2.7 trillion, about the size of the entire GDP of France) with some of the low and middle income countries hit hardest.11 Delaying action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by ten years is estimated to be twice as expensive as taking immediate action.12

Halting and reversing biodiversity loss is not just an environmental imperative but a critical financial strategy that can unlock tremendous economic potential. Analysis suggests that transitioning to a nature-positive economy could generate $10.1 trillion in business opportunities and create nearly 395 million jobs by 2030.13 We need fast action from all businesses, governments and financiers if we are to realise positive change and avoid losing trillions over the next 15 years due to nature’s decline.14

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework 

The adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)15 at COP15 in 2022 marked a defining moment for action on biodiversity loss. This international agreement set out a global strategy to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, with the overarching vision of ‘living in harmony with nature’ by 2050. It acknowledges that conservation and restoration must also happen within engineered environments and be compatible with human development.

Building on the foundation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)16, the ‘Nature Positive’ movement has gained significant momentum. It has become the global societal goal for nature recovery, requiring action to ‘Halt and Reverse Nature Loss by 2030 on a 2020 baseline and achieve full recovery by 2050’.17 However, a critical challenge emerges. Whilst many government agencies, businesses, and nonprofit organisations have embraced this concept, the term ‘Nature Positive’ is sometimes used too loosely and applied to actions that seem helpful but may not create the expected improvements. To maintain credibility and impact, the ‘Nature Positive’ approach requires clear rules, such as setting baselines and tracking actual outcomes, ensuring it reflects true gains for nature rather than merely good intentions.18, 19

‘Bending the curve’20 refers to reversing that downward trend of biodiversity loss.

 Bold, transformative action is needed to halt and reverse harm to nature, and help its recovery. Only through integrated, systemic approaches can we ‘bend the curve’ so that biodiversity is visibly and measurably on a path to recovery. Key areas of action include (Figure 1): enhanced conservation and restoration of ecosystems; climate change mitigation; addressing pollution, invasive species, and overexploitation; creating more sustainable production systems for goods and services (especially food); and reducing overall consumption and waste.21

22

Crucially, no single action is sufficient – all drivers of biodiversity loss must be addressed simultaneously. These approaches work best when combined because they strengthen and complement each other.23 The imperative for decarbonisation becomes significantly more urgent when viewed through the lens of interconnected climate and nature crises. Scientific consensus confirms that immediate cessation of new fossil fuel infrastructure development24 and rapid transition to renewable energy25 represent the most effective strategies for halting natural and ocean systems’ deterioration. 

This challenge becomes particularly acute when examining the built environment. Infrastructure is a major contributor to climate change, linked with up to 79% of carbon emissions globally.26 Infrastructure also causes ecological damage27 by taking up space from various native species without consideration of mitigation, restoration, or coexistence with nature.

Seventy-five per cent of the infrastructure that will exist by 2050 has yet to be built.28 The opportunity to ensure that future infrastructure is low-emission, resource-efficient, resilient, and nature-positive is unprecedented. The rapid expansion of offshore renewable energy (ORE) is an example of the scale and pace of future development needed with offshore wind capacity expected to grow more than six-fold in 2030 and almost ten-fold in 2050 as compared to the capacity in 2018.29

Engineers and other built environment professionals have a critical role to play. As primary implementers and stewards of the built environment, they shape our world in ways that carry long-lasting ecological consequences. Engineers are a key leverage point for nature recovery. Realising this potential requires the systematic integration of nature-positive principles across all stages of infrastructure development to help meet global biodiversity and climate goals. 

Harnessing growing societal momentum, engineers can reimagine infrastructure as a powerful catalyst for ecological recovery and enhancement.