Module 1

What Nature Positive is / the KMGBF

Hold a map of the definition and the global goals

Learning objectives

Can explain the definition of Nature Positive and the baseline year
Can state the difference from no net loss
Can place the KMGBF’s 4 goals and 23 targets, including 30by30 and Target 15

The role of this primer

This is where you acquire the language and basic thinking of Nature Positive. Definitions, the Convention, science, disclosure and the economic case are placed on the same map. With that shared language, later diagnostics and practice apps become usable. This is not a memorisation book; it is an introduction for untangling mix-ups.

Why “positive”

For years, the language of nature policy centred on “protect” and “do not reduce.” Yet as IPBES shows, biodiversity has been greatly eroded over the past 50 years. Slowing the rate of loss alone would lock in the already-lowered 2020 level. Nature Positive sets as its goal not only to halt loss but to reverse it — that is, to put nature on a recovery path in net terms.

The skeleton of the definition

The definition shared by the Nature Positive Initiative and others has three points. (1) The object is a measurable state of nature (species, ecosystems, integrity of nature). (2) The baseline is 2020. (3) Halt and reverse loss by 2030, and recover by 2050. Tree-planting counts, donation amounts and carbon-offset volumes are not, by themselves, proof of Nature Positive achievement.

The KMGBF as a public measuring stick

In December 2022, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was adopted at CBD COP15 (Montreal) (Decision 15/4). There are Goals A–D corresponding to the 2050 vision of “a world of living in harmony with nature,” and 23 targets through 2030. The scientific basis is IPBES, corporate disclosure practice is TNFD, the economic case is WEF New Nature Economy, and the sequence is WBCSD Roadmaps to Nature Positive. What an officer should first lock in is Target 3 (30by30), Target 2 (put 30% of degraded ecosystems under restoration), Target 15 (business impact assessment, disclosure and reduction), Target 18 (reform of harmful incentives) and Target 19 (resource mobilisation).

One example of domestic implementation

Each Party domesticates the KMGBF through a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP). In Japan, examples include the National Biodiversity Strategy 2023–2030, the 30by30 Alliance, and nature coexistence sites (OECMs). The “definition” in this primer is not about memorising one country’s institutions; it is about being able to read the Convention, global goals, science and disclosure on the same map.

Takeaways

The baseline is 2020. The peaks to reach are 2030 and 2050.
No net loss ≠ Nature Positive. The latter includes net gain.
One international basis for corporate disclosure is KMGBF Target 15.