[Workshop] Toward a New Consensus on Universal Nature State Metrics: Driving Action and Accountability at Scale
Co-organized by IND
To bend the curve of biodiversity loss, collective accountability and effective action across users require shared metrics and a clear understanding of how those metrics are built, tested, and applied in practice. This session offers an inside look at developing consensus-based nature state metrics spanning terrestrial, freshwater, and marine systems.
Grounded in the Nature Positive Initiative’s work, the session will explore how universal indicators are co-developed across scientific, policy, and business communities; where methodological rigor has been maintained; and how simplification and usability have been balanced to enable real-world application at scale. It will also highlight how insights from 2025 business piloting have reshaped metric design and usability.
The session will open with a short film to establish the urgency and narrative context for nature-positive action, followed by a focused panel on putting metrics into practice, highlighting key tensions, trade-offs, and points of convergence. A cross-sector panel featuring representatives from academia, business, finance, and civil society will examine how these metrics function across institutional contexts, including implications for research, disclosure, target-setting, and decision-making.
Goals
- Understand how consensus on universal nature state metrics is developed and evolving
- Highlight scientific foundations, practical trade-offs, and real-world applications
- Identify pathways to scale adoption and ensure integrity in implementation
Outcomes
- Increased clarity on the methodological foundations and evolution of nature state metrics
- Practical insights from cross-sector application, including lessons from business piloting
- Clear entry points for engagement in testing, refining, and embedding metrics
- Momentum toward widespread adoption and alignment to drive nature-positive outcomes