Nature

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The Taskforce for Nature-Based Financial Disclosures, TNFD , states it follows the definition of Nature by IBPES: "The natural world, with an emphasis on the diversity of living organisms (including people) and their interactions among themselves and with their environment." (source referenced: Díaz, S et al (2015) The IPBES Conceptual Framework – connecting nature and people, link (consulted 09-09-2022)).

Diaz et alies define Nature as: "Nature’ in the context of IPBES refers to the natural world with an emphasis on the diversity of living organisms and their interactions among themselves and with their environment. Within the context of western science, it includes categories such as biodiversity, ecosystems, ecosystem structure and functioning, the evolutionary process, the biosphere, living natural resources (as defined in, e.g. Ref. [7]), shared evolutionary heritage [11,12], and biocultural diversity [13,14] — which incorporates ‘ethnobiodiversity’ [15]. Being western science-based, these categories are indicated in green font within the nature box in Figure 1. Non-living natural resources which may benefit people and therefore contribute to a good quality of life, such as deep aquifers, mineral and fossil reserves, wind, solar, geothermal and wave power, are considered as part of nature, but their direct benefits (i.e. those that are not mediated by non-human living organisms) are not the focus of IPBES. Within the context of other knowledge systems, nature includes different categories and holistic concepts held by indigenous peoples around the world (in blue font). Examples are Mother Earth and systems of life, shared by the indigenous peoples of the South American Andes [16,17], the concepts of sefl nluo ́ -wa‘nxia‘ng (vast forest and every manifestation of nature) and tien-ti (Heaven and Earth) of Taoism shared by East Asian peoples [18], and concepts of the land encompassing non-human living organisms, living people, ancestors, deities and their shared histories in the South Pacific Islands (e.g. fonua, vanua, whenua, ples) [15]." Source: The IPBES Conceptual Framework , consulted 09-09-2022.

IPBES is an intergovernmental science-policy platform for biodiversity and ecosystem services. The Conceptual Framework of IPBES describes nature as follows: "“Nature” in the context of the Platform refers to the natural world with an emphasis on biodiversity. Within the context of science, it includes categories such as biodiversity, ecosystems, ecosystem functioning, evolution, the biosphere, humankind’s shared evolutionary heritage, and biocultural diversity. Within the context of other knowledge systems, it includes categories such as Mother Earth and systems of life. Other components of nature, such as deep aquifers, mineral and fossil reserves, and wind, solar, geothermal and wave power, are not the focus of the Platform. Nature contributes to societies through the provision of benefits to people (instrumental and relational values, see below) and has its own intrinsic values, that is, the value inherent to nature, independent of human experience and evaluation and thus beyond the scope of anthropocentric valuation approaches." (Source: Decision IPBES-2/4: Conceptual framework for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services link , consulted 09-09-2022.