MMW Perspective 4: Risk, Policy, and What We Choose to Measure

“What looks like a ‘bad decision’ from the outside is often a survival strategy inside the system.”

Nature finance is often discussed in terms of capital, investment and financial flows.

But what if one of the most important questions is actually about risk, resilience and what we choose to measure?

In the fourth perspective from Gerana's Making Money Work for Landscapes series, Sharon Brooks (UNEP-WCMC) reflects on a career that has taken her from field ecology in Cambodia to working at the intersection of business, policy and biodiversity.

Drawing on this experience, Sharon explores how perceptions of nature-related risk are changing. What was once viewed as an environmental issue is increasingly being recognised as a financial one, with implications for businesses, investors, governments and economies alike.

At the heart of the article is a deceptively simple challenge:

Measurement only matters if it informs decisions.

As the availability of nature-related data, tools and metrics continues to grow, Sharon encourages us to look beyond the question of what can be measured and focus instead on what is meaningful to measure, for whom, and for what purpose.

An important theme running through the piece is perspective. Decisions that may appear irrational from the outside often make perfect sense when viewed from within the realities of a landscape, livelihood or community. Understanding these dynamics is essential if finance and business action are to support genuinely resilient outcomes.

For anyone interested in the relationship between nature, risk, policy and finance, Sharon offers a timely reminder that measurement is not an end in itself. What matters is whether it helps us make better decisions.

This article is the fourth in a six-part series exploring how money behaves inside the systems shaping landscapes.

We hope it sparks reflection, discussion and perhaps a few new questions of your own.

Further reading:

MMW Perspective 4: Risk, Policy, and What We Choose to Measure, by Sharon Brooks (attached)