Our natural world provides enormous opportunities for creating jobs and stimulating economies. More than half of the world’s GDP – some US$44 trillion – is moderately or highly dependent on nature. And globally, some 1.2 billion jobs in sectors such as farming, fisheries, forestry and tourism depend on the effective management and sustainability of healthy ecosystems.

But today, the natural world and our economies are experiencing multiple challenges, intensified by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. This cascade of crises has had a dramatic and tragic impact on labour markets, eliminating hundreds of millions of jobs and livelihoods.

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented responses. This podcast is based on the new, ground-breaking report by the ILO and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) that urges policymakers to urgently explore the potential of Nature-based Solution and seek to integrate them in their crises responses. Interview with the report’s editors, Vanessa Pérez-Cirera, WWF’s Deputy Leader for Nature Global Climate and Energy Practice, and Maikel Lieuw-Kie-Song, the ILO’s Employment Intensive Investment Programme Technical Specialist.