Towards Peace with Nature: A Preview of the 2026 Human Development Report
What if the future of human development depends not only on managing overlapping crises, but on repairing our relationships—with each other and with the planet?
UNDP’s forthcoming 2026 Human Development Report “Towards Peace with Nature: Nurturing the Foundations of Human Development” seeks to advance an aspirational approach to planetary futures, centered on how societies can cultivate more constructive, mutually beneficial relationships between people and nature.
Around the world, accelerating planetary change, conflicts, polarization, and growing uncertainty are increasingly becoming a regular reality for people. In this context, the 2026 Human Development Report asks: what if these challenges share a common root cause—fractured relationships among people, between societies, and between people and nature?
Rather than focusing only on crisis, the report explores how stronger relationships can become a foundation for hope, resilience, and thriving futures for people and the planet. Now, the task facing all of us is broader than easing human pressures on the planet. We need to act—both individually and collectively—to repair and nurture our relationship with one another and nature.
Early insights:
- Planetary challenges are human development problems
- Climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation affect people's health, livelihoods, and security
- Relationships matter for development
- Development today depends not only on stocks of physical, human or natural capital, but on quality of the relationships: among people, between societies, and between people and nature. Reimagining and repairing these relationships are essential for rebuilding trust, cooperation, solidarity and reciprocity.
- A different relationship with nature is not just necessary, it is possible
- Across history and around the world, communities have protected, restored and lived alongside nature in ways that enrich both human lives and the planet.
What’s new in the 2026 HDR?
The 2026 HDR presents two innovative new tools to advance an aspirational approach to planetary futures:
The Nature Relationships Index (NRI)
The NRI measures the extent to which societies are creating the conditions for people to develop and sustain mutually beneficial relations with nature.
The Multi-Hazards Environmental Index (MHEI)
The MHEI is a subnational tool that identifies "hot spots" where climate risks (e.g., heat, flooding, drought) intersect with human development deficits. It is a new agency-enhancing tool that helps policymakers pivot from reactive disaster response to proactive adaptation planning by highlighting where community investments are most needed.
How do climate risks and human development deficits intersect?
The climate hazards index builds on six indicators of exposure to hazards:
We use this to construct and index that allows us to zoom in from the global to the hyperlocal:
Global:
Hyperlocal:
Why this matters?
Human development is not at odds with sustainability, it is indispensable for building a hopeful, resilient, and just future. At its core, human development is about expanding people’s freedoms to build a different future than the one we inherited. Reimagining how we relate to one another, to our communities and to the natural world is a choice we all need to make, and the 2026 HDR will introduce novel tools to galvanize progress in this direction.
The climate hazards index will allow us to better understand where people are exposed to hazards, how vulnerable they are, and where financing and adaptation policies are most needed.
The nature-relationship index will allow us to go even further, showing whether change is moving in the right direction. It offers a credible and actionable reference point for countries navigating transitions, helping them imagine possible futures and guide decision-making.