The Toolkit was developed to support both Nature-based Solutions (NbS) supply side, i.e. project developers, and demand side, i.e. investors and buyers, in systematically incorporating Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ (IPs and LCs) health and wellbeing considerations as part of NbS. First published in September 2023, the Toolkit was developed by GSK and Pollination Group with the support of NbS, nature, and health experts, including the NCSA.

The ambition behind the Toolkit is to transform health considerations into a core-benefit of any NbS, rather than an optional co-benefit. For that, its content needs to be easily accessible and available to all of the carbon markets market players, including developers, investors, buyers, and standard setters. Hence, the NCSA and the Procurement Hub becoming the home of this work, as its members and contributors perfectly reflects the Toolkit target audience.

Systematically embedding local health considerations as part of the NbS development and lifetime will not only contribute to improve individual carbon project’s integrity, but also to enhancing the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM)’s integrity. Indeed, by ensuring that IPs’ and LCs’ health needs and priorities are supported by NbS, they will be more likely to support its success on the long-run, and thus contribute to improving project permanence.