Climate and nature governance
Climate and nature risks are governed by many institutions at once: environment and finance ministries, basin bodies, disaster agencies, regional organisations, local governments and the communities that live with the consequences. The Global Risks Forum (GRF) convenes these institutions to clarify who governs adaptation, nature and transboundary environmental priorities, and how they can act on shared evidence. This page describes that work and its specialist platform counterpart, Climate and Nature Governance, which is in development. Evidence comes from The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI), and decisions remain with the competent authorities.
- 01In briefThe short answer
- 02The governance questionsWhat institutions need to settle
- 03Instruments in forceThe regimes a climate and nature dialogue has to read together
- 04How it is convenedDialogue that connects ministries that report to different conventions
- 05How GRF works on itProgrammes and the platform counterpart
- 06Reference frameworksInternational instruments that frame the dialogue
- 07CounterpartsThe same field across the three institutions
GRF · Institution · service level R0
The short answer.
Climate and nature governance is how environment and finance ministries, basin bodies, disaster agencies, regional organisations, local governments and affected communities divide responsibility for adaptation, nature and transboundary environmental priorities. GRF convenes them to clarify who governs what and how they can act on shared evidence, framed by international instruments.
Water security in World.
Rivers, lakes and how far each division sits from mapped surface water, in World.
What institutions need to settle.
Who adapts what
Which institutions own adaptation decisions for water, infrastructure, agriculture and cities, and how are they coordinated?
Who protects what
How do nature and biodiversity commitments reach the agencies and land managers who must act on them?
Shared basins and ecosystems
How do countries that share a river, coast or ecosystem govern it together while keeping national authority?
The regimes a climate and nature dialogue has to read together.
| Regime | What it asks of institutions | Status to keep in view |
|---|---|---|
| Paris Agreement | Nationally determined contributions, adaptation communications and biennial transparency reports under the enhanced transparency framework | COP30 in Belém adopted a set of Global Goal on Adaptation indicators and a two-year process on their use; COP31 is hosted by Türkiye with Australia presiding over negotiations |
| Fund for responding to Loss and Damage | Access to finance for economic and non-economic loss through the Barbados Implementation Modalities | First call for funding requests opened in December 2025; approvals were still under Board review in mid-2026 |
| Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework | National biodiversity strategies and action plans aligned with the 2030 targets, including the 30 by 30 area target | Updated strategies and national reports are the review basis |
| BBNJ Agreement | Area-based management tools, environmental impact assessment and benefit sharing on the high seas | In force since 17 January 2026; the first Conference of the Parties is due within a year |
| Sendai Framework | Disaster risk reduction where climate hazards meet emergency and land-use governance | Runs to 2030 |
Dialogue that connects ministries that report to different conventions.
A single country can report adaptation to the UNFCCC, nature to the CBD, drought to the UNCCD and disaster losses to the Sendai Framework Monitor through four different ministries. A GRF dialogue brings those focal points together with basin bodies and local government to compare what each report commits the state to and where the commitments meet on the same land or water.
- Synergy review: one territory, all reporting obligations, mapped to the agency that holds each.
- Basin dialogue: riparian institutions working from the shared evidence base in river basin governance.
- Policy lab: options for aligning a national adaptation plan with a biodiversity strategy, tested against GCRI evidence and read for finance consequences by GRA's climate and nature financial risk platform.
Programmes and the platform counterpart.
- 01
Policy cooperation
Responsibility maps, cooperation dialogues and policy options for testing, set out in the climate and nature area of the GRF programmes.
- 02
Regional dialogue
Shared-system questions in the six regions, such as basins and coasts, with the Diplomacy Nexus community.
- 03
Platform in development
Climate and Nature Governance is a proposed specialist community, in development, designed to give institutions and frameworks for climate, adaptation and nature their own community. It includes the Water and Food Security Governance chapter.
- 04
Testing
Selected arrangements can be proposed for controlled exercises in Nexus Universe, such as coordinated responses to drought or flood across a shared basin.
International instruments that frame the dialogue.
- The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, for mitigation and adaptation commitments.
- The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, for nature and biodiversity targets.
- The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, where climate hazards meet disaster governance.
- Regional and basin agreements that the participating states have themselves concluded.
Named instruments are references for dialogue, not claims of alignment. GRF does not assess any institution's conformity with them, and it does not regulate, finance, procure or certify.
The same field across the three institutions.
GCRI studies the science in climate and hazards and biodiversity and nature. The Global Risks Alliance (GRA) works on the financial side in climate and nature risk, never as an approval or a transaction. Related GRF areas are disaster and crisis governance and future generations and anticipation. The framework is on risk governance.
Terms used on this page.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| National adaptation plan | A country's plan, under the UNFCCC process, to identify medium and long-term adaptation needs and how to meet them. |
| Nationally determined contribution | A country's climate plan under the Paris Agreement, setting its emission targets and actions. |
| Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework | The framework adopted under the CBD with goals for 2050 and targets for 2030 to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. |
| Transboundary basin | A river, lake or aquifer basin shared by two or more countries, where use upstream changes the water, sediment and risk that arrive downstream. |
Where this page's references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
Questions and answers.
Is Climate and Nature Governance an active platform?
Does GRF negotiate climate commitments?
How can an environment agency take part?
Around GRF.
Start with an enquiry.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.