African Green Economy and Sustainability Institute has said Africa is in dire need of decision literacy to unlock nature finance.

The AGESI executive director, Eugene Itua, stated this during the COP17 side event with the theme, “Blended Finance for Nature: From Policy Coherence to Investment,” convened by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the GEF Pavilion in Yerevan, Armenia, on Friday.

“Africa needs decision literacy, not more plans, to unlock nature finance,” Mr Itua said.

The climate expert lamented that African institutions were built for short-term revenue, not longterm natural capital value.

He added, “Across Africa, the biggest capacity gap is not technical knowledge — it is the ability to turn nature priorities into investable, bankable decisions.”

According to him, ministries, regulators and development finance institutions need tools that answer three practical questions, including economic value at risk if nature fails, possible financial return and structure incentives aimed at benefiting communities.

Highlighting two approaches, including nature-positive decision system and FIPRE which tests whether a proposal delivers real ecosystem function, measurable impact, prosperity, resilience and equity, Mr Itua noted that the systems make nature finance understandable to the budget officers, bankers and governors who actually approve budgets and loans.

He stressed the need for policy coherence, fiscal reform, risk-reduction instruments and nature capital accounting, warning that economic incentives still reward depletion more than restoration in Nigeria.

The expert described the Business and Biodiversity Action Plan, through the Business Advisory Group (BAG), as the private-sector delivery system for the reforms, adding that it turns national priorities into corporate investment, disclosure and supply-chain decisions.

“If Africa does not publish its own natural capital standard, it will be forced to adopt external frameworks designed for non- African ecosystems. Writing our own standard is not optional; it is a strategic economic necessity. When policies, finance instruments and fiscal measures align, nature becomes a rational investment, not a charitable one,” he added.

The discussion stressed, among others, the need for National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans to become investment roadmaps, not only policy documents, adding that domestic financial institutions should lead, not follow, global nature-finance trends.