By: Nana Karikari, Senior Global Affairs Correspondent
Global financial systems are funneling 30 times more capital into the destruction of ecosystems than into their recovery, according to the landmark “State of Finance for Nature 2026” report released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The report reveals a staggering gap in environmental funding. For every one US dollar (GH₵10.94) invested in protecting nature, the world spends 30 US dollars (GH₵328.20) harming it. This imbalance currently blocks progress on climate change, threatens biodiversity, and undermines the effort to build resilient economies. For regions like West Africa, where livelihoods are inextricably linked to the land, this financial gap is a direct threat to survival.
Trillions for Destruction: The Concentration of Risk
Global spending on activities that damage nature reached approximately US$7.3 trillion (GH₵79.8 trillion) in 2023, representing roughly 7 percent of global GDP. The report reveals that these destructive flows are highly concentrated in the private sector, which provided US$4.9 trillion of the total.
Most of this capital is locked within just four sectors: Utilities, Industrials, Energy, and Basic Materials. Governments added US$2.4 trillion through environmentally harmful subsidies, primarily supporting fossil fuels, agriculture, water, transport, and construction. “The confluence of rising debt and reduced donor support demands a rethinking of how Ghana funds its development,” warned John Nkaw, Country Director of ActionAid Ghana. He noted that without shifting these flows, poor households in the region could lose up to 40 percent of their income by 2050 due to climate shocks.
Galamsey: The Local Face of Nature-Negative Finance
In Ghana, the UNEP’s findings on “nature-negative” finance resonate through the crisis of galamsey (illegal small-scale mining). While the mining sector remains a primary driver of exports, the unregulated extraction of basic materials has devastated 34 of Ghana’s 288 forest reserves and polluted 60 percent of its water bodies.
“Galamsey is the ultimate example of the 30-to-1 imbalance,” says Ken Ashigbey, Convenor of the Media Coalition Against Galamsey. “We are seeing private capital flow into the destruction of our rivers for short-term gain, while the state is left to fund the nearly impossible recovery of our lands. The UNEP report proves that without redirecting these flows toward sustainable, regulated mining, our economic base will literally wash away.”
Weak Private Support for Nature
Investment in nature-based solutions (NbS)—actions that protect or restore natural ecosystems—remains extremely low. Only US$220 billion (**GH₵2.4 trillion**) went toward NbS globally in 2023. Public sources provided nearly 90 percent of that funding. **While international public finance for nature rose by roughly 22 percent**, private sector participation remains anemic, contributing only US$23.4 billion.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen noted the severity of these figures.
“If you follow the money, you see the size of the challenge ahead of us. We can either invest in nature’s destruction or power its recovery—there is no middle ground,” Andersen said. “Whether investments flow into nature’s destruction or into its protection will determine if we live in climate-vulnerable concrete jungles or in climate-resilient green cities.”
The Nature Transition X-Curve: A Roadmap to Recovery
To meet global biodiversity and land restoration targets, annual investment in NbS must reach US$571 billion (GH₵6.2 trillion) by 2030—a 2.5-fold increase. To guide this, the report introduces the Nature Transition X-Curve.
This framework helps policymakers and businesses sequence reforms: “breaking down” harmful subsidies and entrenched production systems while “scaling up” high-integrity NbS. The report argues that this “Big Nature Turnaround” could unlock a “Trillion-Dollar Nature Transition Economy,” creating new markets in emissions-negative building materials and urban greening to counter heat-island effects.
Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, H.E. Reem Alabali-Radovan, called for an immediate change. “The world’s financial flows need an urgent shift from degrading the environment to investments in nature-based solutions,” she said. “German development policy supports partner countries in valuing their natural capital so that it can lead the way to a sustainable and future-proof economy.”
Economic Opportunity and Human Impact
UNEP highlights that restoring degraded land can yield returns of US$7 to US$30 (GH₵76.50 to GH₵328.20) for every dollar invested. In Ghana, these solutions are already changing lives. A US$70 million (GH₵765.8 million) initiative—anchored by a US$63 million Green Climate Fund grant—is currently restoring 28,000 hectares of degraded land in Northern Ghana. The project directly benefits 619,000 people and provides early warning alerts for nearly 3 million residents across the North East, Upper East, and Upper West regions.
UNEP stressed that successful nature-positive investments must respect local ecological, cultural, and social contexts. Aligning global finance with nature is essential for building a resilient future for every community from Accra to Nairobi.
