Building essential infrastructure is crucial as the world works towards ambitious sustainability goals. Estimates indicate that 70 per cent of the infrastructure needed by 2050 has not yet been built. With increased investment in infrastructure being a key policy priority, there is an urgent need to ensure that new infrastructure delivers sustainable and nature positive outcomes.

Traditional and unsustainable infrastructure development is a key driver of the triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution. The impact of infrastructure development ranges from degradation of natural habitats and deforestation to illegal mining and wildfires. Additionally, infrastructure development contributes to higher levels of air, soil, and water pollution. Resource exploitation disrupts terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, including ecosystem connectivity and wildlife migration. This causes a loss of nature services. These are critical for our current and future well-being. Infrastructure development also creates economic risks given the high dependency of the global economy on nature, paving the way for a paradigm shift towards infrastructure that meets sustainability targets.

Each country has legal mechanisms to identify and address the impacts of a proposed infrastructure project. This is through an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or in the case of large-scale infrastructure programmes, via a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). Based on these assessments, a project may be accepted, rejected, or amended to incorporate impact mitigation and avoidance strategies.

Without high-quality biodiversity data, however, the assessment can be ineffective. Accurate biodiversity data is crucial for analysing both current and potential future impacts on the natural environment. A data deficient assessment conducted by a contractor suggested a zero net increase in deforestation for a 900-kilometre highway project through the Amazon Forest. A parallel data-intensive analysis claimed that, by 2050, the project will induce an additional forest loss of up to 39 million hectares, an area larger than Japan. This shows that without data, the results may provide a much watered-down assessment.

This results in an impact assessment not delivering sufficient social and environmental protections, leading to negative implications, not just in the Amazon, but worldwide. Through its membership of alliances like the Sustainable Infrastructure Partnership and the Infrastructure & Nature Coalition, UNEP-WCMC, along with partners, is promoting the adoption of nature positive practices throughout the infrastructure lifecycle

The tools for building sustainable infrastructure

Global biodiversity databases are essential for conducting successful risk screening. Databases map the landscapes, seascapes and species facing increased risks from potential infrastructure development. Protected Planet provides detailed site-level information. It is an authoritative data source for the world’s protected areas.

The Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) combines location-based data from protected areas, key biodiversity areas and species. IBAT improves the overall due diligence process for EIAs. IBAT maps potential biodiversity concerns and shares valuable insights for making better decisions through data. IBAT has a significant impact when measuring environmental risks onsite, focusing attention on key species of conservation concern, and reviewing the results of an impact assessment.

IBAT generates detailed screening reports against the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standard 6, (a stringent legal requirement for the development of infrastructure projects). Accessing and analysing biodiversity data is an expensive and time-consuming part of the EIA process. IBAT simplifies this process whilst fulfilling the need for accurate and robust scientific data in an integrated way.

IBAT is used by over 20,000 public and private sector organisations. Organisations such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, IFC and The Private Infrastructure Development Group use IBAT to identify, assess and act on nature-related issues. IBAT is often considered a starting point in the process of nature-based assessments in conjunction with the ENCORE tool (Exploring Natural Capital Opportunities, Risks and Exposure). ENCORE screens for nature-related risks, impacts and dependencies. A recent study by AECOM piloting Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD)’s LEAP approach provides further insight into how to integrate these tools effectively.

There is a growing demand to disclose and report on the impacts, dependencies, and risks of infrastructure development projects. This has become particularly pertinent after the launch of the TNFD guidance. As a result, UNEP-WCMC is expanding the Proteus Partnership, a cross-sectoral collaboration of multinationals. The partnership is now accessible to the infrastructure sector, providing access to authoritative data, knowledge, and tools to enable them to manage their impact on nature and their contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This e-learning course on sustainable development corridors, developed by UNEP-WCMC, enables users to understand the impacts of infrastructure development. The course equips them with knowledge of nature screening tools and the guidelines to follow while conducting impact assessments for infrastructure.

Developed by experts and researchers, Impact Assessment for Corridors: From Infrastructure to Development Corridors is a compendium of case studies, focusing on how impact assessments of development corridors have unfolded in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Building from these examples, the report puts forward best practice guidelines and principles to achieve better outcomes for nature and people.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which was adopted at the COP15 of the Convention of Biological Diversity, has set action-oriented global targets for biodiversity conservation. The Target 14 of the GBF focuses on the integration of biodiversity into policies, strategies, and processes, including EIAs and SEAs. In conclusion, to achieve this target, a concerted, collective effort is required to ensure that biodiversity data, knowledge, and evidence are integrated into decision-making through policies, strategies, processes, and assessments.