Global - Grid IP

Overview

The global platform coordinates partnerships and accelerates changes to systems across the infrastructure lifecycle. It builds the knowledge, institutional capacity, and collaboration required to integrate biodiversity into transportation infrastructure planning, design, and investment. Through improving policies, shared learning, program coordination, and communications, the global platform supports GRID’s country partners while advancing global adoption of sustainable transportation practices.

Challenge

Transportation infrastructure is expanding rapidly, and without nature-positive approaches, it drives habitat loss, fragmentation, emissions, and long-term economic risk. Policies and planning systems often fail to align infrastructure development with biodiversity goals, while nature and ecosystem services remain undervalued in decision-making. Many institutions also lack the technical capacity and cross-sector coordination needed to design sustainable projects.

Opportunity

When biodiversity is integrated early in the infrastructure lifecycle, projects can maintain ecological connectivity, reduce long-term costs through nature-based solutions, and strengthen resilience to climate impacts. Early integration also supports more inclusive planning and helps align national investments with global biodiversity and climate commitments. The global platform creates enabling conditions to make this shift possible at scale.

Approach

While interest in mainstreaming biodiversity into transportation infrastructure exists, practical knowledge and tools are often limited. The global platform addresses this through a knowledge hub, learning exchanges, and communities of practice that strengthen the capacity of planners, engineers, and decision-makers. Its focus is upstream—supporting policy reform, planning tools, and financial mechanisms well before construction begins.

These efforts are reinforced through program-wide coordination, including governance, communications, monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management, and targeted technical assistance. Across all workstreams, the platform applies inclusive engagement, gender-responsive approaches, and behavior change strategies to help embed sustainability into practice.

Results & Impact

By strengthening the systems that shape infrastructure decisions, the global platform amplifies the impact of GRID’s country projects and delivers global environmental and social benefits.

It helps protect forests, wetlands, freshwater, and coastal ecosystems, maintain ecological connectivity, and contributes to climate mitigation by reducing emissions linked to land-use change and unsustainable construction. It also advances climate adaptation through nature-based solutions that enhance resilience.

The platform strengthens institutional capacity, promotes inclusive planning processes, and integrates biodiversity into policy, planning, and finance—supporting lasting change beyond the life of the program.

Partners & Local Team

The global platform is supported by the Global Environment Facility, led by WWF, and implemented in partnership with the Asian Development Bank and United Nations Environment Programme. Government agencies, multilateral development banks, knowledge partners, NGOs, academic institutions, and the private sector collaborate to align infrastructure development with nature-positive goals.

A global coordination unit manages implementation, knowledge management, communications, and monitoring and evaluation. Strategic oversight is provided by a program steering committee and an advisory group of global experts.