Nature Needs Its Own Identity Card
Midori Paxton: Director of the "Nature Center" under the United Nations Development Programme
In my 35-year career in environmental conservation, I have come to recognize that the current planetary crisis is not solely due to destruction and neglect but also stems from something deeper: our economic systems’ inability to see the value of nature.
While governments strive for GDP growth and companies seek to maximize profits, they fail to account for the ecological systems that underpin our economies, communities, and personal well-being. We manage what we measure, and because ecosystem services do not appear in budgets, they become virtually invisible, even as their consequences—exploitation of natural resources, habitat destruction, and pollution of air, land, water, and oceans—confront us directly.
The consequences of continuing on the current path are well-documented. The World Bank warns that the collapse of just a few critical ecosystem services, such as natural pollination and marine fisheries, could shrink the global GDP by $2.7 trillion annually by 2030.
How can we make nature more visible and integral in decision-making processes? The "Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures" represents a significant first step. By providing financial institutions and companies with the tools to assess their reliance on and impact on natural ecosystems, this initiative encourages and enables them to redirect financial flows towards positive investments for nature.
Quantifying these relationships is no easy task. However, "digital nature identities" offer a promising solution. Just as personal identities empower citizens to exercise their rights, access government benefits, utilize banking services, and engage in legal actions, a digital nature identity can help establish fundamental environmental metrics to assess the ecosystems supporting human development.
A person without an identity is at risk of disappearing in modern society. The same applies to nature. Assigning secure identities to natural ecosystems can protect them from unchecked exploitation. For instance, a forest watershed could have an identity that stores information about its geographical features, biodiversity, ecosystem services, and the measurable benefits it provides to local communities and even distant populations downstream. By quantifying these benefits, we can make it more challenging for companies or individuals to ignore or harm nature. It will no longer be invisible; its value will be defined, legally recognized, and its exploitation made more difficult.
With the digital identity revolution, our ability to identify, track, and measure has reached levels that once seemed unattainable. India’s Aadhaar system—a digital identity framework based on biometric data—is a prime example. By enabling instantaneous identity verification, Aadhaar has granted over a billion people access to a range of public services and social programs. Similarly, public digital infrastructure for sustainable development is already assigning unique identifiers to physical structures like roads and bridges, affirming their economic value.
A similar approach can be applied to nature. With the rapid evolution of mobile technologies, a digital nature identity could integrate digital tags, remote sensing, and sensor data to monitor natural ecosystems in real-time. Artificial intelligence can further enhance these systems, making environmental data more accessible and actionable. Imagine a geotagged data package, enriched with crucial environmental features and health indicators, providing a comprehensive and dynamic snapshot of a specific ecosystem. An early application of this concept is the ability to track supply chains to ensure that your cup of coffee is deforestation-free.
By integrating administrative, environmental, and geographical data, digital nature identities can pave the way for scaling up results-based payment systems, offering fair compensation for those who protect carbon-absorbing forests, mangroves, and other vital ecosystems. They can also enhance tracking of raw materials in agricultural supply chains and empower land rights holders by improving access to biodiversity credits, green bonds, and loans tied to sustainable management. Furthermore, such a system can bolster the legal protection of local and indigenous communities by integrating clear and detailed site records.
However, developing a digital nature identity must be a holistic societal effort, founded on principles of inclusivity and collaboration. Its design must reflect the concerns of all stakeholders, serving as a public good that fosters positive action towards nature on a broad scale. Above all, it should support the rights, well-being, and values of indigenous peoples and local communities, ensuring that they retain control over data related to their lands, resources, and ways of life.
For success, the digital nature identity system must be integrated with existing digital infrastructure, allowing countries to adapt and refine it to fit their unique social, economic, and environmental realities. Strong laws and policies will be needed to promote data sharing, standardization, and accountability, enhancing interoperability and protecting against misuse.
Broadly, a digital nature identity can become a transformative tool for assessing the value of our planet’s natural resources and their contributions to humanity. By recognizing the ways in which nature empowers our communities and economies to survive and thrive, we can usher in a new era of environmental accountability.
The United Nations Development Programme, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and other partners, developed the concept of digital nature identities as part of the public digital infrastructure through research and consultations with indigenous peoples, governments, NGOs, and the private sector. The views presented here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders or partners.
