Darwin, July 2025 — The UNEP-IEMP took an active role at the 11th Ecosystem Services Partnership World Conference (ESP11), in July 2025 in Darwin, Australia, where more than 200 researchers, policy makers, Indigenous peoples, local community leaders, and private sector innovators gathered to advance nature-based solutions.
The team from UNEP-IEMP delivered two monetary-valuation case studies: Heilongjiang’s soybean-expansion scenarios, and the landscape management in Yunnan. All sessions mapped the nature-inclusive externalities and demonstrated how rigorous accounting can reconcile food security, rural livelihoods, and biodiversity goals.
ESP11 placed particular focus on Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) as co-designers of sustainable practices. Throughout the conference, vibrant discussions carried on among IPLC representatives, national planning officials, and impact-investment managers to explore joint pilots on ecological-compensation credits, gender-inclusive training programmes, and resilience metrics for agri-food systems. The conference’s blend of scientific evidence, IPLC-driven narratives, and private sector innovation reinforced a common message: translating ecosystem services into fiscal language is vital for scaling nature-based solutions while respecting community stewardship.
