Chief Executive Officer, Shoni Munzhedzi addresses Biodiversity Credits event at Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden in Roodepoort, Gauteng
Programme Director,
Distinguished speakers,
Colleagues and partners.
As we conclude today’s South African Dialogue on Nature Credit Markets, I would like to thank all our speakers, panellists and participants for a very important and timely conversation.
This dialogue comes at a particularly important moment for South Africa. We are finalising our third-generation National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, together with the Biodiversity Finance Plan, which provides a roadmap for diversifying and increasing the financial resources available for biodiversity implementation.
Within this broader biodiversity finance agenda, voluntary nature markets are being explored as part of the suite of innovative and positive finance solutions that could mobilise additional private-sector resources for biodiversity. The NBSAP similarly identifies instruments such as biodiversity credits, alongside other innovative finance mechanisms, while emphasising the importance of environmental and social safeguards.
For SANBI, therefore, this conversation is not happening in isolation. It connects directly with several initiatives already under way.
Through the CAP4NATFIN FEXTE project, funded by AFD and implemented through the partnership between SANBI and the French Biodiversity Agency, we are strengthening SANBI’s institutional capacity on nature finance. This includes strengthening biodiversity finance architecture, improving resource mobilisation and tracking, and building SANBI’s capacity to connect biodiversity science and data with financial decision-making.
We also have a very practical opportunity through SANBI’s Eco-DRR project, funded by the Green Climate Fund. This eight-year, US$40.1 million programme will restore and improve the management of more than 68,000 hectares while strengthening resilience in climate-vulnerable landscapes.
Importantly, Component 3.1 provides an opportunity to develop bankable and sustainable finance solutions that can help sustain the benefits and interventions of the project beyond the project funding cycle. This is exactly the type of practical context in which we need to explore how nature finance instruments can complement public and international finance and support long-term investment in landscapes.
So, for SANBI, the question is not simply whether there should be a market for nature credits. The more important question is how we create the institutional capacity, scientific foundations, policy environment and safeguards that allow innovative finance to contribute credibly to South Africa’s biodiversity priorities.
And we should also recognise that nature credits are one instrument within a much broader biodiversity finance architecture. They should complement—not substitute—public finance, development finance and other mechanisms required to implement our NBSAP. South Africa’s biodiversity assessments themselves point to the need to diversify finance while protecting the baseline of public funding for biodiversity.
There is also a regional opportunity. Through SANBI’s role as a Technical and Scientific Cooperation Support Centre, we work with countries across Southern Africa. As our experience and institutional capacity on nature finance develops, there is an opportunity for peer learning, knowledge exchange and capacity development across the region.
Today’s dialogue therefore contributes to something bigger: building South Africa’s nature-finance ecosystem and understanding where voluntary nature markets can responsibly contribute to closing the biodiversity finance gap.
Our task now is to connect these conversations—to the Biodiversity Finance Plan, CAP4NATFIN, Eco-DRR, our NBSAP implementation, the private and financial sectors, and the communities and institutions responsible for managing biodiversity on the ground.
On behalf of SANBI, I would like to thank AFD, UNDP, the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits, the Sustainable Finance Coalition, our speakers and panellists, and everyone who has contributed to today’s dialogue.
We look forward to continuing this partnership and, importantly, to moving from dialogue towards learning, piloting and building the institutional capability required to mobilise sustainable finance for nature.
Facts Only
* The event was held at the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden in Roodepoort, Gauteng.
* The context for the discussion was the South African Dialogue on Nature Credit Markets.
* South Africa is finalizing its third-generation National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and the Biodiversity Finance Plan.
* Voluntary nature markets are being explored as innovative finance solutions to mobilize private-sector resources for biodiversity.
* The NBSAP identifies biodiversity credits alongside other finance mechanisms and emphasizes environmental and social safeguards.
* SANBI is involved in the CAP4NATFIN FEXTE project, funded by AFD and implemented with the French Biodiversity Agency, which strengthens institutional capacity on nature finance.
* The Eco-DRR project, funded by the Green Climate Fund, is an eight-year program to restore and improve management of over 68,000 hectares.
* Component 3.1 of the Eco-DRR project seeks to develop sustainable finance solutions for long-term sustainability beyond project funding.
* The dialogue seeks to connect the Biodiversity Finance Plan, CAP4NATFIN, Eco-DRR, NBSAP implementation, private/financial sectors, and communities.
Executive Summary
The Chief Executive Officer of SANBI addressed the South African Dialogue on Nature Credit Markets, thanking participants for the conversation. This dialogue occurred while finalizing South Africa's third-generation National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and the Biodiversity Finance Plan, which aim to create a roadmap for increasing financial resources for biodiversity implementation. Voluntary nature markets are being explored as potential private-sector financing solutions within this broader finance agenda, alongside instruments identified in the NBSAP.
The conversation connects to existing SANBI initiatives. The CAP4NATFIN FEXTE project strengthens institutional capacity on nature finance by improving resource mobilization and data linkage. Additionally, the Eco-DRR project, funded by the Green Climate Fund, seeks to restore land and improve resilience across 68,000 hectares over eight years. This project includes a component focused on developing sustainable finance solutions that extend benefits beyond the funding cycle.
The speaker emphasized that the focus should be on building institutional capacity, scientific foundations, policy, and safeguards necessary for innovative finance to credibly support biodiversity priorities, rather than focusing solely on the existence of nature credit markets. The dialogue aims to connect these various elements—the finance plan, projects, sectors, and stakeholders—to build South Africa’s nature-finance ecosystem and address the biodiversity finance gap through responsible voluntary nature markets.
Full Take
The narrative positions voluntary nature markets not as a standalone solution but as one instrument within a much larger biodiversity finance architecture that must complement public and development finance rather than substitute it. This framing is crucial because it addresses the core tension: acknowledging the need to diversify finance while simultaneously safeguarding baseline public funding for biodiversity implementation. The focus shifts from *whether* a market should exist to *how* the necessary institutional capacity, scientific foundations, policy environments, and safeguards can be established to ensure innovative finance contributes credibly to national priorities.
A significant pattern observed is the deliberate linking of specialized, project-based efforts (like Eco-DRR) with high-level policy goals (NBSAP, Biodiversity Finance Plan). This creates an implicit argument that practical finance mechanisms are essential for realizing overarching strategic plans. The regional opportunity identified through SANBI's role in Southern Africa suggests a pattern of capacity building and knowledge exchange being leveraged as a pathway for broader systemic change, moving beyond localized project success.
The underlying assumption is that innovation in finance requires strong institutional scaffolding. If the focus remains purely on the mechanism (credits) without addressing the prerequisites (capacity, safeguards, integration with public finance), the initiative risks becoming disconnected or exacerbating existing inequalities. The implication is that genuine impact lies in establishing a comprehensive ecosystem where nature finance serves as an additive tool, not a replacement for foundational financial commitments.
Bridge questions: What specific metrics will be used to determine if voluntary market contributions genuinely complement, rather than distract from, public and development finance streams? How can the lessons learned from connecting project finance (Eco-DRR) directly into national planning (NBSAP) be institutionalized across the regional cooperation framework? What accountability structures are required to ensure that capacity building results translate directly into sustainable financial flows for biodiversity outcomes?
Sentinel — Human
The text exhibits strong evidence of being spoken by an expert within the relevant field, skillfully connecting high-level policy goals with specific institutional projects and financial mechanisms.