Thailand Urges Business Action to Achieve Global 30x30 Biodiversity Goals

 

Addressing the SX2026 Chief Sustainability Officers Forum, Prasert Sirinapaporn warns that nature loss poses direct economic and supply chain risks to businesses.

 

Biodiversity loss is no longer merely an environmental concern but a direct threat to economic stability, supply chains, and corporate operating costs, Thailand’s Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment warned business leaders on Friday (November 13).

 

Delivering a keynote address at the Chief Sustainability Officers (CSO) Forum—held as part of Sustainability Expo 2026 (SX2026) at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center—Prasert Sirinapaporn outlined how Thailand is translating the global "30x30" biodiversity target into national policy, legislation, and financial mechanisms.

 

Under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), adopted in 2022, nations are committed to halting and reversing nature loss by 2030.

 

Its centrepiece, Target 3—widely known as 30x30—calls for at least 30 per cent of the world’s terrestrial, inland water, coastal, and marine areas to be effectively conserved and managed by the end of the decade.

 

"Achieving the 30x30 target cannot be the responsibility of the government alone," Prasert told delegates from the public, private, and financial sectors. "The real message of 30x30 is not simply to make protected areas bigger; it is to make conservation connected, effective, and fair."

 

 

 

National Targets and Legislative Reform

To meet its international obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Thailand has established three core national biodiversity targets for 2030.

 

Alongside conserving at least 30 per cent of its land and marine areas, the country aims to maintain its Red List Index for species survival while introducing management measures for at least 35 per cent of high-priority invasive alien species.

 

Crucially for the private sector, the third target encourages at least 30 per cent of companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand’s SET50 index to voluntarily disclose how their business activities impact and depend on biodiversity.

 

To underpin these goals, the Ministry has drafted Thailand’s first comprehensive Biodiversity Act, which has been submitted to the Cabinet for consideration.

 

Comprising 63 sections, the proposed law establishes a centralised governance framework while promoting a sustainable bioeconomy rooted in biological resources and local wisdom.

 

The draft legislation spans five key areas affecting businesses: access and benefit sharing, sustainable use of biological resources, protected areas and community participation, biodiversity monitoring and assessment, and regulations governing living modified organisms and liability.

 

Prasert advised firms to prepare early by assessing their operational dependencies on nature and reviewing supply chains ahead of formal regulatory requirements.

 

 

 

Unlocking Finance and Expanding Conservation

Reflecting momentum from last month’s CBD COP17 in Yerevan, Armenia—which emphasised shifting from pledges to implementation and reforming environmentally harmful subsidies—Thailand is actively linking capital markets to conservation outcomes.

 

Prasert pointed to Thailand’s first Sustainability-Linked Bond (SLB), issued on 17 September 2026, as a model for green finance.

 

Valued at 25 billion baht with a 15-year maturity, the bond was oversubscribed by 2.8 times. Its financing terms are tied directly to two national performance indicators: capping greenhouse gas emissions at or below 152 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2035 and expanding protected areas and Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) to support the 30x30 goal.

 

OECMs are set to play a vital role in expanding Thailand’s conservation network beyond traditional national parks. Potential sites include community forests, university campuses, royal development projects, recreational forests, and marine conservation zones in the Gulf of Thailand.

 

However, Prasert noted that long-term success requires strong policy alignment, reduced overlap among state agencies, international partnerships, and active local participation.

 

 

Six Practical Pathways for Businesses

To turn corporate ambition into measurable impact, the Ministry invited businesses to collaborate across six practical areas:

• Conservation and Data: Supporting the restoration of forests, wetlands, and marine ecosystems, establishing OECMs on company-managed land, and sharing biodiversity data and technology with state agencies.

• Assessment and Disclosure: Evaluating nature-related risks and opportunities using frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the LEAP approach, alongside voluntary corporate reporting.

• Sustainable Supply Chains: Identifying high-risk raw materials, ensuring traceability of biological and genetic resources, and embedding biodiversity criteria into procurement.

• Nature-Positive Finance: Directing capital into forest restoration, mangroves, wetlands, and sustainable agriculture.

• Community Partnerships: Respecting the rights of local communities and ensuring fair, equitable benefit-sharing when utilising traditional knowledge and genetic resources.

• Corporate Governance: Assigning board-level accountability for biodiversity risks and aligning corporate metrics with national policy and global biodiversity outcomes.

 

"Let us view biodiversity not only as something we must protect but also as an important foundation for long-term business resilience and sustainable development," Prasert concluded, reaffirming the government’s readiness to partner with the private sector to build a nature-positive future.

 

Sustainability Expo 2026 runs from 6 to 15 November 2026 in Bangkok, bringing together regional leaders and innovators to accelerate sustainable development across ASEAN.