Over the last two months, as heavy monsoon rains triggered devastating floods and landslides across India—impacting over 6,00,000 people in Assam, submerging seven districts in Gujarat and over 100 villages in Telangana, and killing over 300 people in Kerala—the story increasingly remained the same. We urgently need to rethink our climate and disaster resilience strategies as costs rise. An important aspect would be to recognise and economically value the critical role that nature-based solutions play in mitigating these impacts.
Nature-based solutions are actions that protect, conserve, restore, or sustainably manage ecosystems while addressing societal and environmental challenges. These could range from restoring wetlands to improve water quality, to planting urban forests that mitigate heat waves, to creating coastal buffers that reduce the impact of storms and flooding.
A recent study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) highlights that these nature-based solutions (NbS) are cost-effective strategies for reducing risks from various climate-induced disasters, which are expected to cost the world a staggering USD 12.5 trillion in economic losses by 2050.
A 2020 study by the World Economic Forum estimated that restoring wetlands in India alone could yield an additional USD 89.6 billion in benefits over the next 30 years. Despite significant advantages, investments to scale up NbS continue to remain glaringly inadequate.
NbS projects globally received approximately USD 200 billion in funding in 2022, with public funds accounting for 82% (USD 165 billion) and only about 18% (USD 35 billion) coming from private sources. This amount falls well short of the USD 436 billion needed to meet global biodiversity targets.
Moreover, we found that developed countries, especially in North America and Europe, received the majority of NbS investments, having claimed nearly 75% of available funding. In contrast, developing countries, which are already more vulnerable to climate change, received only a meagre share. This can be attributed to the lack of standard frameworks that help monitor the benefits of NbS in developing countries.
To create a business case for attracting greater investment and engaging private finance in support of NbS and helping our cities and villages resist floods, cyclones and have respite in heat, it is essential to put a price on nature and the benefits it ensures in a world with erratic weather patterns. Here are some practical steps that can help close this investment gap.
Quantify benefits
First, create a framework to quantify the economic benefits of nature-based solutions. A key challenge in investing in NbS is the lack of quantifiable metrics — how many lives and livelihoods can a mangrove patch help save? Nature's benefits are often seen subjectively, making it hard to build a strong investment case. Without clear data, the economic value of NbS is underappreciated. A standardised evaluation method with targeted indicators would fix this.
For instance, we created the ENSURE (Effective Nature-based Solutions Utilisation and Resource Evaluation) framework, which provides guidelines for quantifying the cost-to-benefit ratio, and carried out a case study on mangrove restoration in Maharashtra. Such unified frameworks could be hosted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to enable stakeholders to map benefits and build confidence in investing in such solutions. It could also help map climate co-benefits of large-scale national programmes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), where almost 60% of the activities are related to natural resource management.
Mainstream it
Second, mainstream NbS for disaster risk reduction. Nature-based solutions hold immense potential to reduce disaster risk across different sectors and regions in India. Government schemes such as the Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes (MISHTI) and Amrit Dharohar, which focuses on protecting wetlands and aquatic biodiversity with the help of local communities, are excellent examples of targeted NbS interventions reducing disaster risk.
For instance, the restoration of mangroves along the coasts of Odisha has proven crucial in buffering the impacts of cyclones, and protecting communities and infrastructure from severe damage. To ensure these benefits are fully realised, NbS should be mainstreamed into state-level climate action plans and integrated into disaster management strategies, particularly in vulnerable regions.
Conservation vs development
Third, tackle the stigma around conservation versus development. NbS projects can drive transformative changes that address climatic risks while challenging the often-perceived conflict between conservation and development. These initiatives can offer long-term job security by creating diverse employment opportunities. These jobs could be crucial, especially for marginalised communities who can be engaged in various stages of these projects, such as in ecosystem restoration, sustainable forestry, community-based tourism, and agroforestry.
These roles include nursery management, guiding eco-tours, sustainable harvesting, biodiversity monitoring, and developing value-added products from non-timber forest resources. Globally, USD 133 billion is channelled towards the implementation of such activities, which requires to be tripled to achieve committed mitigation targets. This increased investment could sustain the existing 75 million jobs in nature-related sectors worldwide and create an additional 20 million new opportunities by 2030.
Pricing nature
Finally, we must not flinch from pricing nature accurately and ambitiously. Doing so is essential not just for meeting climate targets but also for securing the long-term well-being of our communities and economies. Put a price on nature, because the cost of inaction is far higher in a world of increasing climate volatility. Pricing nature isn't commodification; it's recognising its critical role in flood-proofing Indian cities, absorbing carbon, and enabling sustainable livelihoods. Nature is not a cost but a vital investment in India’s collective resilience and prosperity.
(Views are personal)
SHREYA WADHAWAN
Programme Associate at the Council on Energy,Environment and Water
DR VISHWAS CHITALE
Senior Programme Lead at the Council on Energy,Environment and Water