The Nature Pledge: Biodiversity and Sustainability in Asia and the Pacific

In this episode of the Nature Pledge Podcast, we sit down with Professor Ryo Kohsaka of the University of Tokyo, a lead coordinating author of IPBES's first-ever global assessment on business and biodiversity. Together, we unpack what the report means for Asia-Pacific.
The IPBES Assessment's message is simple: every business, in every sector, depends on and impacts biodiversity — and the knowledge to act already exists. The harder question is why action still lags in Asia Pacific?
Professor Kohsaka explains that the region is fundamentally different from other regions with Asia's "working landscapes" of paddy fields and secondary forests. that don't fit a one-size-fits-all global methodology. He explains too, why Japan is a leading adopter of nature-related financial disclosures in the region and globally.

Over the past two decades, Cambodia’s economic transition to lower-middle-income status has come at a steep environmental cost—including the loss of a massive share of its humid primary forests.
In this two-part episode, we explore the contrasting priorities of Cambodia’s policy makers and Indigenous Peoples. Where do goals overlap and where are they still misaligned?
Ken Bopreang, Director of Biodiversity at Cambodia's Ministry of Environment, outlines the state's vision including a massive reforestation effort and new inter-ministerial working groups.
Mane Yun, Executive Director of the Cambodia Indigenous Peoples Organization (CIPO), shares the perspective of an indigenous community facing legal challenges for exercising traditional land use patterns.
In this episode, we also discuss how multilateral actors and bilateral donors can better serve the needs of Indigenous Peoples.

In 2022, the UN General Assembly recognized the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment (RHE), the same year the world agreed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
In this episode, we speak to Astrid Puentes Riaño, UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and discuss the nexus of human rights and nature loss.
Has the RHE accelerated action on nature loss, and if so, how? Importantly, how has her work been received by policy makers and business and finance leaders in the countries she visits? And what do we make of the contradictions and complementarities between the rights of nature and human rights?

Rangelands cover 54% of our earth’s terrestrial surface and sustain around 500 million pastoralists world-wide, yet they receive a fraction of the attention they deserve and require.
In this episode of The Nature Pledge podcast, we dive headfirst into the misunderstandings and controversies surrounding rangelands and the pastoralists that call these vital landscapes their home.  Natasha Kirit Maru, Global Lead for Rangelands and Pastoralists at the International Land Coalition, challenges us to better understand topics like overgrazing and the sometimes-contentious relationship with conservation and climate mitigation efforts.
With up to 50% of global rangelands degraded, Natasha also highlights progress made, and the urgency of the upcoming UNCCD COP 17 in Mongolia. The year 2026, is also designated the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.
Tune in to discover why protecting rangelands is a crucial factor in preventing biodiversity loss and driving sustainable development.

In this episode of The Nature Pledge podcast, we dive into the upcoming flagship report from UNDP, the 2026 Human Development Report (HDR), with Pedro Conceição, the Director of the Human Development Report Office. Together we explore what might result if business and society invested in a more constructive, mutually beneficial relationship between people and nature.
UNDP’s flagship report aims to shift our global dialoguetoward “constructive agency” to promote a reconnection between people and the planet. But just how feasible is this? And are we asking too much from business and society in this time of armed conflict and economic uncertainty?