World-first nature positive summit opens in Sydney

The world's first nature positive summit opened in Sydney on Tuesday, with attendees seeking to drive investment in nature and improve its protection and repair.

The three-day event brought together leaders from governments, businesses, academia, environmental groups and Indigenous communities to address global biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse.

Co-hosted by the Australian federal government and state government of New South Wales, the summit was an initiative of Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek who delivered a keynote speech at the event on Tuesday morning.

"This summit aims to accelerate collective action to drive investment in nature and strengthen activities to protect and repair our environment," she said.

On the eve of the summit on Monday, a collection of more than 20 Australian businesses and financial institutions, including the flag carrier of Australia, Qantas and retail giant Wesfarmers, co-founded Nature Positive Matters.

Members of the new organization have committed to supporting the uptake of nature-related reporting and data collection, pilot programs to inform decisions that are good for nature and helping other businesses take action to protect and repair nature.

Plibersek said on Tuesday that Nature Positive Matters would help businesses understand and measure their impacts and their dependence on nature.

"Until our businesses and economic decision makers are factoring the value of nature into our economic decision-making, until our economic settings change, nature will continue to go backwards," she told the summit.

(Cover: Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, September 21, 2024. /CFP)