A Nature-Positive Future

By 2030, thirty per cent of land, inland waters and seas will be protected, and a further thirty per cent of degraded ecosystems restored. Human-driven species extinctions will have ceased, while pollution from nutrients, pesticides and plastics will be significantly reduced. The introduction of invasive species will have been halved. Sustainable agriculture, fisheries and forestry will have expanded, and food waste will have decreased. Urban green space will receive greater attention, and financial flows will be redirected towards nature-positive investments. Step by step, this will create a world in which economic development and biodiversity reinforce rather than undermine one another.

By 2050, biodiversity must be an integral part of policy, the economy and society. This vision is outlined in the United Nations Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which sketches a future in which humanity lives in harmony with nature. Biodiversity is valued, protected and used sustainably across the globe. Forests, oceans, rivers and grasslands have been restored and together form a resilient network of ecosystems that provide clean air, food, water and a stable climate.

To reach that future, we need concrete routes that guide action at local, national and global level.

These routes, or transition pathways, are practical entry points for initiating change in complex systems such as food supply and land use. They are places where many actors come together: farmers, policymakers, businesses, financiers, researchers and consumers. Each has a distinct role, but together they are responsible for the shift towards a nature-positive future. The strength of the pathways lies in connecting places, scales and sectors. Linking these pathways creates a coherent transformation. Only through coordinated, collective action can we break entrenched patterns and roll out sustainable alternatives at scale.