The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) of the United Nations Convention on Biological Biodiversity: “Taking Action For Nature”

Biodiversity is the foundation of sustainable development. Healthy ecosystems sustain livelihoods, support economic prosperity and strengthen resilience to climate and environmental risks.  

Yet biodiversity loss is declining at an unprecedented rate, making financing action for nature a central focus of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP17).

UNDP is working with countries and partners to turn nature commitments into scalable solutions that drive resilience and prosperity. Insurance has a critical role to play in this effort. Through risk modelling, underwriting and investment expertise, the sector can demonstrate the economic value of healthy ecosystems, protect nature-dependent communities and reduce risks that constrain investment in conservation and restoration.

At COP17, UNDP, UNEP FI and partners will explore how public-private collaboration can scale these solutions and accelerate implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. 

Session 1. Insuring the nature-positive transition  

Nature Positive Pavilion, Blue Zone 

Friday 23rd October | 09:00 to 10:00 AMT

Convened by UNDP and UNEP FI

This moderated discussion, hosted by the Nature Positive Initiative, explores how insurance can help deliver a more resilient, nature-positive economy. Healthy ecosystems act as natural buffers against storms, floods, droughts and wildfires, reducing losses for communities, customers and insurers. The session will examine how insurers measure and manage nature-related risks, mainstream nature into their business models and transition plans, and support sectors through the transition. It will also explore the enabling conditions needed to accelerate action, including clear policy signals, credible transition pathways, coherent regulation and public-private collaboration.

Speakers:

•    Verena Kraus, Project Manager Insurance and Nature, UNEP-FI
•    Marika Rueter, Head of Sustainability Strategy Development, AXA
•    Charlie Dixon, Programme Director, Nature at Green Finance Institute
•    Jamie Balto, Head of Strategic Projects, The Landbanking Group
•    William Butler, CEO and Founder, GaiaSicura

Participants: Business and finance representatives; conservation organizations; standard-setters; governments. 

Session 2. Insuring nature close to home 

Subnational and Local Government Hub, Action Zone, Blue Zone

Sunday 25th October | 14:00 to 15:00 AMT

Convened by UNDP and UNEP FI

This session brings together local governments, communities and insurers to explore how nature can protect cities and regions, and how insurance can help keep that protection within reach. Trees and green spaces cool neighborhoods, wetlands take in stormwater and healthy uplands hold soil and water, while access to green space supports health and wellbeing. Drawing on practical cases, including insurance for Colombia's high mountain páramos and urban trees, the discussion will examine how insurers' risk knowledge can support local planning, how insurance can cover the risks of investing in nature and pay for its repair, and what local and regional governments can do to keep insurance available and affordable.

Speakers:

•    Saurabh Sharma, Nature and Inclusive Insurance Lead, UNDP
•    Daniela Rizzi, Senior Expert for Nature-based Solutions and Biodiversity, ICLEI European Secretariat
•    Fei Leng, National Coordinator of The Biodiversity Finance Initiative China, UNDP
•    Deborah Halberstadt, Special Advisor to the Commissioner on Biodiversity Inclusive Insurance, California Department of Insurance
•    Hiroko Urashima, Senior Specialist, MS&AD
•    Thomas Viegas, Group Nature Lead, Aviva

Participants: Cities and regions; local and regional governments; communities; insurers.

Session 3. Insuring water security 

Netherlands Pavilion, Blue Zone 

Tuesday 27th October | 10:00 to 11:00 AMT

Convened by UNDP and UNEP FI

This discussion explores how insurers see the risks of too much and too little water, what they are doing about them and what it takes to act together with banks and governments. The Netherlands has spent centuries keeping water out and is now also learning to hold on to it. Too much and too little water are two sides of one risk, with floods among the losses insurers know best, while drought and water shortage reach them more slowly. Nature is part of a country's water infrastructure, with forests, wetlands and healthy soils slowing water down in a storm and storing it for the dry months, alongside dikes, drains and reservoirs. The session examines how insurers respond to both sides of water risk and what it takes to act together with banks and governments.

Speakers:

•    Verena Kraus, Project Manager Insurance and Nature, UNEP-FI
•    Thomas Viegas, Group Nature Lead, Aviva 
•    Hiroko Urashima, Senior Specialist, MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings
•    Simon Scholl, Sector Lead Nature-based Solutions, Triodos Bank

Participants: Insurers and reinsurers; banks and financial institutions; governments and policymakers; regulators; development finance institutions; water security and nature-based solutions practitioners.

Session 4. Insuring ASEAN's natural infrastructure 

ASEAN Pavilion, Blue Zone 

Tuesday 27th October | 14:00 to 15:30 AMT

Convened by UNDP and UNEP FI

This side session looks at how insurance can help ASEAN Member States address nature loss, in a region holding the Coral Triangle, yet where only around 8 per cent of natural catastrophe losses across Asia were insured in 2025. It draws on live regional examples, including parametric coral reef insurance for Indonesia's Gili Matra islands and cover for 88 Marine Protected Areas in the Philippines, to explore how insurance can evidence nature-related risk, unlock finance for nature, and help mainstream it across ASEAN's nature-dependent sectors, while identifying the conditions needed to scale these solutions.

Speakers:

•    Saurabh Sharma, Nature and Inclusive Insurance Lead, UNDP
•    Christovel Rotinsulu, Deputy Executive Director for Program Services, The Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security
•    Aurelie Fallon Saint-Lo, Head of Sustainable Underwriting, Axa Group
•    William Butler, CEO and Founder, GaiaSicura

Participants: ASEAN Member State and CBD Party representatives; ASEAN regional institutions, including the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity and the ASEAN Secretariat; insurers, reinsurers and brokers active in the region; sovereign and regional risk pools; representatives of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs); development finance and biodiversity finance actors; regulators; conservation and restoration practitioners; technical experts.

Session 5. Insurance and risk finance for nature: unlocking investment for GBF implementation 

GEF Pavilion, Blue Zone 

Wednesday 28th October | 16:30 to 18:00 AMT

Convened by UNDP and UNEP FI

Delivering the Global Biodiversity Framework requires not only mobilising more finance, but ensuring that finance can be deployed effectively and deliver lasting results. Investments in conservation, restoration and nature-positive economic activity face multiple risks, including physical shocks, uncertain revenues and performance, and risks borne by communities and businesses whose livelihoods depend on nature. This session brings together biodiversity funds, development finance institutions, governments and the insurance sector to examine how better risk management can strengthen biodiversity finance, and where insurance, guarantees and other risk-sharing mechanisms can add value. It explores where risk sits in biodiversity finance, when transferring or sharing risk improves the financing proposition, how risk management can become part of biodiversity finance planning and investment, and the wider role of insurers as risk managers, risk carriers and investors.

Speakers:

•    Verena Kraus, Project Manager Insurance and Nature, UNEP-FI
•    Saurabh Sharma, Nature and Inclusive Insurance Lead, UNDP
•    Gregory Watson, Unit Chief -Biodiversity and Natural Capital Unit, Inter-American Development Bank
•    Taku Kato, Leader of Sustainability Promotion, Sompo Japan Insurance Inc.
•    Aurelie Fallon Saint-Lo, Head of Sustainable Underwriting, AXA
•    Jeromine Bertrand, Head of International Nature Finance, UK Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

Participants: Governments and CBD Parties; GEF; insurers and reinsurers; public and development finance institutions; IPLCs; regulators; biodiversity finance and nature practitioners.
 

Towards a Nature Positive economy: the role of finance and insurance 

Nature Positive Pavilion, Main Room

Monday 26th October | 13:30–14:30 AMT

Convened by UNDP and the Nature Positive Initiative

Operationalizing Targets 14 and 19 of the Global Biodiversity Framework requires moving from high-level commitments to concrete transitions. This session examines the business case for finance and insurance to adopt the nature-positive ambition and what changes are required to turn it into reality. The discussion will also explore integrating unified indicators into regulatory supervision, corporate insurance underwriting, and sovereign risk stress-testing in both developing and emerging economies.

Moderator: Daniela Rizzi, Senior Expert, Biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions, ICLEI

Opening remarks and keynote:
•    Marco Lambertini, Convener, Nature Positive Initiative
•    Deborah Halberstadt, Special Advisor to the Commissioner on Biodiversity and Inclusive Insurance, California Department of Insurance State Government of California

Speakers:

•    Yoko Watanabe, Director of Environment, Asian Development Bank
•    Saurabh Sharma, Nature and Inclusive Insurance Lead, UNDP

Participants: Representatives from finance and insurance, regulatory bodies, multilateral development banks and organizations working on biodiversity and nature-based solutions.