Designing KPIs for Nature and Biodiversity: Thailand’s Bold Step Toward a Nature-Positive Future

Why It Matters

With the world facing interconnected crises of biodiversity loss, climate instability, and financing shortfalls, Thailand is stepping up with a strategic approach: build biodiversity KPIs that link policy ambition to public financial systems, especially through sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs). The goal? To ensure measurable, transparent, and financeable actions that move the country toward a nature-positive future by 2050.

Workshop Highlights & Key Messages

1. Linking Biodiversity Policy with Sovereign Financing

   
   

   Ms. Sasiwimon Kastijark (Economist, PDMO) introduced Thailand’s groundbreaking Sustainability-Linked Bond (SLB 406A) valued at 98 billion baht, with KPIs already tied to emissions and electric vehicle deployment. But the next frontier, she emphasized, is integrating biodiversity KPIs into sovereign finance mechanisms.

   
   

   “We must ensure that national development aligns with both climate and biodiversity outcomes,” she noted, “and that SLBs reflect these through verifiable indicators.”

2. From NBSAP to SMART KPIs

   
   

   Mrs. Pattarin Tongsima (Director, ONEP) unpacked the 2023–2027 National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) and its alignment with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF). With 12 national goals mapped to 23 global targets, Thailand is identifying four main biodiversity KPIs, including:

   - Proportion of protected areas (≥30%)

   - Red List Index

   - Alien species management

   - Restoration of degraded ecosystems

   
   

   She emphasized the need for SMART indicators: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

   
   

3. Scaling Up Biodiversity Finance

   
   

   Mr. Kosintr Puongsophol (Senior Financial Sector Specialist, ADB) highlighted the funding gap, with biodiversity accounting for just 0.3% of the national budget. He advocated for SLBs as a vehicle to channel new funding toward biodiversity goals, and shared global case studies from Uruguay and Brazil, demonstrating how biodiversity KPIs can be incorporated into loan-linked performance frameworks.

   
   

4. The Role of ONEP and the Path Forward

   
   

   Deputy Secretary-General Mr. Songkiat Tatayanon underscored ONEP’s central role in turning global frameworks into national implementation. He called for:

   - Development of cross-sectoral indicators

   - New partnerships with the private sector

   - Expansion of biodiversity-aligned financial tools like sustainability bonds and nature resilience initiatives

Insights and Reflections

This workshop showcased Thailand’s leadership in connecting financial innovation with ecological restoration. It reinforced the message that biodiversity cannot be siloed within environmental agencies, it must be mainstreamed into national budgeting, debt planning, and infrastructure policy. Importantly, the KPIs discussed were not just technical tools, they are mechanisms for accountability, transparency, and transformative impact.

It also became clear that building strong data systems, ensuring external verification, and anchoring KPIs to real national-level outcomes will be vital to success.

Recommended Steps Forward

1. Institutionalize biodiversity KPIs across ministries, not only within ONEP.

2. Embed biodiversity KPIs into upcoming SLB issuances and public investment programs.

3. Enhance data systems for biodiversity monitoring using tools like satellite mapping and AI.

4. Convene regional dialogues to align biodiversity KPIs with ASEAN and ACMECS cooperation frameworks.

5. Strengthen capacity building for civil servants and local governments to apply KPI frameworks.

6. Incentivize the private sector to adopt biodiversity KPIs in ESG and supply chain reporting.

A Model for the Region

Thailand’s efforts—particularly through linking the National Biodiversity Strategy, KM-GBF, and sovereign financing tools—are a beacon for other ASEAN countries navigating similar challenges. As the climate and biodiversity crises deepen, strategic coherence, financial innovation, and meaningful indicators will determine our collective ability to protect the living systems we depend on.