Nature positive enterprises join forces with researchers to explore the potential of the nature-positive economy

GoNaturePositive! initiative launched by international research project 

An abalone aquaculture farm in the west of Ireland is one of over 500 nature positive enterprises across Europe joining forces with researchers from Trinity College Dublin and Horizon Nua on an international study investigating the challenges and benefits of a nature-positive economy.

The pilot study of the nature-positive potential of the blue economy in Ireland forms part of the GoNaturePositive! research project which  was launched by Malcolm Noonan, Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform, Ireland at an event in Trinity Business School on March 6th.

The initiative led by Trinity Business School involves 20 partners across 14 countries and a network of global collaborators to accelerate awareness and transformative action towards a nature-positive economy among policymakers, investors, businesses and wider society. Research will result in more clarity on the concept of a nature-positive economy and provide guidance for businesses and policy makers on the priorities for transformation.

Siobhan McQuaid, Principal Investigator on the GoNaturePositive!, added: “There is no doubt that the restoration of nature presents enormous economic opportunities. But how we set out to define and action the idea of a nature-positive economy is less clear. And what does a nature-positive economy mean on the ground for people, processors and farmers? The ambition of GoNaturePositive! is huge – to lead a paradigm shift in economic thinking and practise away from the current spiral of planetary degradation and towards the new opportunities proposed by a nature-positive economy.” 

Businesses are at the heart of this Horizon Europe funded initiative. GoNaturePositive! collaborates with existing initiatives to provide clarity on the concept of a nature-positive economy, guidance and support for business transition and very importantly how to measure progress towards achieving it.  GoNaturePositive! also works with nature -based enterprises who are nature-positive from creation. These include regenerative ocean farming and marine businesses in Ireland; bee-farming in Colombia; agro-ecological farming in Belgium; carbon-neutral forestry and nature-positive tourism in Italy and green building enterprises throughout Europe. These pilots showcase real-world challenges and opportunities and demonstrate the measurable contribution of project interventions.

Horizon Nua is proud to be a partner in this important project and will lead activities on WP4 Scaling and NBEs. The CEO Isobel Fletcher commented: “We are very excited to be a partner in this transformative project.  We see huge potential for nature- based enterprises, working with and for nature to grow and scale as the economy transitions towards a just, sustainable and fair society.  The Connecting Nature Enterprise Platform which we manage will support this global scaling of nature-based enterprises through leveraging connections with national and EU  Business and Biodiversity platforms, delivering capacity building webinars and programmes leading to widespread take-up  of nature-positive benchmarking and standards and programmes tailored to support investment in NBE’s and scaling for impact.

This event gathered business leaders and environmentalists from around the world to begin the process of developing an inclusive European definition of the nature-positive economy and to start the debate on how such a definition can be integrated into the future policies and programs of the EU and national and local governments within the broader framework of the EU's Green Deal.

For more information about the project and to get involved, visit:  https://www.gonaturepositive.eu/.