The 14th International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD 2026), organised by the European Centre of Sustainable Development (ECSDEV), brought together international researchers, policymakers, and industry practitioners to share multidisciplinary approaches to environmental and economic sustainability. Held in Rome, Italy, this year’s conference theme was “Creating a unified foundation for the Sustainable Development: research, practice and education”, emphasising the strong foundation that is provided by using research to inform our everyday practices, policies, and analytical approaches.
Naturalis Biodiversity Center at ICSD 2026
Representing the BIOFIN-EU project, Janneke Horsten MSc and Dr. Mark van Nieuwstadt from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, presented their research poster titled “Private Finance and Nature-based Solutions: Can Intermediation Challenge the Status Quo?”
Their research focused on the need of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to be tailored to local conditions, and the fact that this makes them difficult to include in the standard risk assessments used by financial institutions.
BIOFIN-EU addresses this gap by defining biodiversity-finance (biofin) intermediary functions that connect financial requirements with local ecological needs and help integrate NbS into mainstream investment decisions.
Results highlighted that local landscape organisations (such as Ireland’s Waters of LIFE project) are ideally positioned to act as intermediaries between land managers, governments, and investors. However, because these organisations often lack specialised financial structuring expertise, developing a clear biofin intermediation blueprint is essential to translate local ecological projects into bankable investment portfolios.
Naturalis’ participation in the ICSD 2026 conference offered BIOFIN-EU the opportunity to present and connect its work to broader academic and policy discussions on biodiversity finance and nature-based solutions. The conference provided the space to foster direct dialogue with researchers, practitioners, and policy experts working on sustainable development. Discussions at ICSD provided valuable feedback for the project’s work on NbS decision-making, as well as better understanding of the skills and financial tools landscape managers need to unlock private and blended finance. Through international knowledge exchange, BIOFIN-EU can also contribute to a broader dialogue on how to transform local nature-based action into investable, scalable solutions.
