Investing in hope for the planet

Every year on World Environment Day, we are reminded that protecting nature is not simply an environmental responsibility. It is an economic imperative.

Nature is business -- and it is everyone's business.

Every meal we eat, every drop of water we drink and countless jobs and industries depend on healthy ecosystems, from the forests that regulate water supplies to the mangroves and coral reefs that protect coastlines.

Agriculture, forestry and tourism contribute almost 30% of Thailand's GDP, and more than 70% of the country's economy-wide value depends directly on nature.

Yet that living system is under growing strain.

Thailand is already among the top 20 hardest-hit countries in the world by climate change. The El Niño weather patterns currently forming, which may hit from as early as this month, are expected to supercharge extreme weather events in ways that are hard to predict. The combined impacts of biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution today threaten 1,600 animal, bird and plant species across Thailand.

The animals, birds and plants that call Thailand home are more than symbols of national heritage; they are iconic. They stabilise nature and the economic and social systems that depend on it. They bring tourists to Thailand's shores. They stir school children to care for the environment.

For a time in 2024, the tiny "Moo Deng", a pygmy hippopotamus named after a Thai dish that means "bouncy pork", became one of the most recognisable animals on the planet.

Such species remind us to get emotional about nature. They help us to connect with the beautiful places that we care about. They give us hope.

But these animals, birds and plants cannot advocate for themselves, and the communities that protect them -- by protecting their environment -- need your help.

That is why, on World Environment Day, UNDP and Thai apparel brand YUEDPAO launched the Icons of Hope campaign in partnership with Central Pattana.

Designed in partnership with Thailand's Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning and the youth community artist group Dek Rak Thoong from Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, the Icons of Hope campaign draws inspiration from three ecosystems that Thailand's most iconic species call home -- forests, wetlands and marine and coastal ecosystems.

In forests, the Indochinese tiger helps to maintain ecological balance while the great hornbill disperses seeds that regenerate the forest.

In wetlands, the fishing cat, purple swamphen and lotus connect land and water, supporting rich biodiversity while helping to reduce floods and sustain fisheries.

Along Thailand's coasts, dugongs and green sea turtles depend on healthy seagrass meadows for food, while seagrass helps store carbon and protect shorelines.

There is hope that all these species can survive and thrive: Thailand is one of the only countries in the world with a growing tiger population.

The Western Forest Complex, home to 12 national parks, has seen its tiger population more than triple over the past two decades thanks to sustained conservation efforts.

The challenge is not a lack of solutions. It is a lack of investment at the scale required.

According to research by UNDP's Biodiversity Finance Initiative, the world faces an annual biodiversity finance gap exceeding US$700 billion (22.8 trillion baht). In Thailand alone, the gap is estimated at about copy billion per year.

Closing that gap would enable full implementation of Thailand's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (2023–2027), helping secure the ecosystems on which future prosperity depends. The government's Biodiversity Finance Plan outlines practical pathways for doing so.

Public-private partnerships are a key ingredient, demonstrating how businesses of all sizes can be part of championing and channelling resources to nature, driving sustainability and positive impact.

All profits from the YUEDPAO x UNDP Icons of Hope collection, for example, will go to support community-led initiatives that protect ecosystems, conserve threatened species and advance nature-positive development in some of Thailand's most important biodiversity landscapes through the UNDP Global Environment Facility's Small Grants Programme.

YUEDPAO joins with UNDP partners Krungthai Bank in supporting the Small Grants Programme in Thailand. Krungthai Bank also provides the donation platform for the NEXTOPIA gaming application with Siam Piwat -- another public-private innovation illustrating that investing in nature is not just philanthropy; it is a business choice.

Biodiversity is not something distant, hidden deep in forests or beneath the sea. From the forests that regulate water supplies to the mangroves and coral reefs that protect coastlines, it is the living system that makes life possible.

Thailand has shown that conservation can succeed. The return of tiger populations in the Western Forest Complex demonstrates this.

This World Environment Day, which occurs today, remember that nature is business -- and it's everyone's business. There is no better investment that we can make.

Written by Niamh Collier-Smith

Originally published by Bangkok Post