Valuing Natural Capital
New ideas for a sustainable future
The #VNC conference focuses on nature-based solutions for carbon sinks. It is a call for action to promote tangible and scalable solutions to climate change that can be implemented in close collaboration between private and public partners. There will be a special emphasis on the impact of the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change on the workforce as well as the role of the people living in close proximity to natural assets. The one-day event features renowned key note speakers, in-depth panel discussions and a follow-up training session in Geneva and online.
Our Partners

Two Keynote Speakers
Four panels
Speakers include: Marianne Haahr Green Digital Finance Alliance Takhmina Nasimova AgAu Joao Braga Development Bank of Brazil
Speakers include:
Adam Wood Harvard University
Francesca Colombo OECD
Richard Freeman Department of Economics, Harvard University
Gaya Herrington Vice President ESG Research
Our Topics
What are natural capitals?
Individual species such as Great Whales are a significant contributor to eco-system stability and provide important ecological services. Whales produce at least three services that can be valued: ecotourism, carbon capture and fisheries enhancement. Their contribution to the ecosystem per year is equal to the GDP of the countries between Greece and Bulgaria and it evolves according to the market prices of carbon emissions. Their population has been greatly reduced through hunting and ship strikes
Seagrass is a plant found in shallow salt water, actively shaping undersea landscapes, and providing shelter for water animals, thereby benefiting the maritime ecology. It absorbs an estimated 83 million metric ton of carbon globally per year. Heath of seagrass suffers from overfishing and maritime transport (boat anchors). Limited attempts to restore seagrass through “underwater gardening” have been tried in the UK but remain too small to this day.
Tropical forests in the Amazon used to be a significant contributor to CO2 absorption. Its size has been plagued by a conflict of use between socio–economic development and protection of the ecosystem. According to Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research (INPE), 11,088 km² of rainforest have been lost between August 2019 and July 2020, an increase of 9.5% compared to the same period last year, endangering the livelihood of indigenous people, jeopardizing biodiversity, and greatly reducing its capacity to absorb CO². In 2021, the Amazonian rainforest went from a carbon sink to a net carbon emitter, in particular via forest fires.
Mangroves are a type of tropical forest known for its great resistance and ability to thrive in hot, muddy and salty
environments. Mangroves capture between 50 to 220 metric tons of CO2 per acre and provide economic benefits of up to 57,000$ per hectare per year to the national economies of developing countries with mangroves. Human activity has been most damaging on mangroves, contributing to a loss of about a quarter of mangroves in the past 40 years. Several investigations into mangrove restoration projects have brought to light key problems linked to a lack of scientific research behind the restoration process
How can we preserve them?
In order to protect natural capital, we need alternative governance mechanisms. At the conference, we will discuss Natural reserves and protected areas, Environmental Taxation (ET), Payment for eco-system services (PES) and Supply-chain management for protection.
What kind of financial solutions exist?
In order to preserve natural capital, we have to come up with innovative financial solutions. At the conference, we will be discussing solutions such as Decentralised Finance (DeFi) Solutions or Social Climate Funds/Green Bonds.
What is the role of the workforce?
The mitigation of and adaptation to climate change have an impact on the workforce, both in terms of quantity (number of available jobs) and quality (the nature of the jobs available) and will require a substantial restructuring of the job market. The impact differs from sector to sector and needs to become an important part of discussing the socially and globally sustainable implementation of new climate policies.
Conference Agenda
Download the agenda for the conference here (continously updated).
Post-Conference Training
In person
Networking Coffee
Organised by UNITAR and Gemlabs
22nd September 2022, 10:00-11:30 CET
WMO HQ Cafeteria - in person
Hybrid
Training 1: Natural Capital and their governance mechanisms
Ralph Chami (IMF, Blue Green Future)
22nd September 2022, 14:00-17:00 CET
WMO HQ UNITAR Training Room
Online
Training 2: Tokenization
Dieter Brockmeyer (Diplomatic World)
Jörn Erbguth (Gemlabs)
23rd of September 2022, 14:00-17:00 CET
Online
Training 3: DeFi Solutions and Climate
Massamba Thioye (Global Innovation Hub)
23rd September 2022, 17:30-20:30 CET
Online
Training 4: Creating Triple Wins
Adam Wood (Harvard University)
23 September 2022, 17:30-20:30
Conference News






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