introduction
Exponential losses to the planet’s biodiversity have accelerated the focus and urgency toward regenerative design practices.
Future-forward examples by members of collaboratives like Biomimicry 3.8’s Project Positive are demonstrating that making regenerative impact is possible today. As a member of Project Positive and as an institution with a long history of environmental and sustainability leadership, Catawba is answering the call with our Campus as Forest initiative.
Catalyzed by the adoption of the historic Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by 196 countries in December 2022 and passage of multiple biodiversity-related regulations in the European Union and the United Kingdom, Nature has blossomed into the global conversation, shifting the conversation from how do we do less bad? to how can we be regenerative?
However, a lack of knowledge around how nature-related challenges intersect with government, community, and business-related risks and opportunities means that organizations are looking for tangible guidance on how to move forward. Coordinated efforts by organizations like the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), Business for Nature, and the World Economic Forum are providing guidance for organizations looking to evaluate nature-related impacts and dependencies and develop a nature-positive strategy. But governments and businesses alike are also in need of examples that answer the questions, how do we make measurable regenerative impact on the ground?—and what does that look like in practice?
