The Devil is in the (Bio)diversity: Private Sector “Engagement” and the Restructuring of Biodiversity Conservation

Abstract: Intensified relations between biodiversity conservation organizations and private‐sector actors are analyzed through a historical perspective that positions biodiversity conservation as an organized political project. Within this view the organizational dimensions of conservation exist as coordinated agreement and action among a variety of actors that take shape within radically asymmetrical power relations. This paper traces the privileged position of “business” in aligning concepts of sustainable development and ecological modernization within the emerging institutional context of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Global Environment Facility in ways that help to secure continued access to “nature as capital”, and create the institutional conditions to shape the work of conservation organizations. The contemporary emergence of business as a major actor in shaping contemporary biodiversity conservation is explained in part by the organizational characteristics of modernist conservation that subordinates it to larger societal and political projects such as neoliberal capitalism.

Funding biodiversity protection in Central and Eastern Europe – a case study of Bosnia Herzegovina

Beyond Biodiversity Conservation: Why Policy Needs Social Theory, Social Theory Needs Justice, and Justice Needs Policy

The Devil in the Detail of Biodiversity Conservation

<i>Integrative Conservation</i>: A new journal from the conservation frontline

The last five years in particular have seen increasing attention paid to biodiversity. This culminated at the Earth Summit last June with the completion of Agenda 21 and a major international Convention on Biological Diversity, a document signed by some 165 nations. Concurrent with the Convention negotiations was the development of a global fund for biodiversity conservation and other environmental priorities, the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The GEF is the largest fund to data put forward by the international community to address biodiversity loss, but, so far, it has failed to set adequate priorities for biodiversity conservation. It has also yet to recognize the full range of biodiversity values and uses and, in general, GEF projects have not taken advantage of existing non-governmental capacity for biodiversity conservation. 1993 is a critical year for the GEF, one in which the GEF can become a critical element of global efforts to conserve biodiversity or remain an important initialive that realized only a fraction of its potential.

Consideration of the ‘social dimensions’ is increasingly gaining currency within the conservation community. A growing body of literature indicates the importance and influence people and societal practices have on the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation. As such, conservationists and their organisations are being urged to embed more social components within their projects and programmes. However, there is self-reported lack of understanding, skills and confidence by many conservationists about the scope and nature of this social dimension within the biodiversity conservation context. This thesis aims to recast the social dimensions of conservation. Specifically, to explore its boundaries and how current understanding can be supplemented using a social practice theoretical lens. It aims to strengthen conceptual understanding and develop pathways of practical application within conservation organisations. This research was undertaken within the context of my own institution, the Zoological Society of London which is a UK zoo-based conservation organisation. The research was exploratory in nature due to the complexity and relatively undefined status of the social dimensions within biodiversity conservation. A mixed method approach was employed using key informant interviews and an online survey instrument to depict and describe practices within the social dimensions of conservation, and to gather perceptions about these practices. The thematic results offer both a recasting of the definition of the social dimensions of conservation and a conceptual model of the ‘ecologies of practices’ at the Zoological Society of London. These new knowledge resources provide a basis to foster further understanding of how people and their practices fit into the conservation landscape. They also offer recommendations for both the Zoological Society of London and the wider biodiversity conservation community, to build individual and organisational capacity towards the social dimensions through future research, training and organisational development.

Stratégies villageoises pour la gestion des paysages forestiers du Menabe Central, Madagascar

This thesis is concerned with the accountability of public international financial institutions to their constituencies at global and local geographic scales. It investigates the compliance of the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with their own environmental and social policies as they relate to biodiversity protection. While the World Bank and the GEF pursue a global environmental agenda, their environmental and social policies commit the institutions to building bridges between the global and the local levels by requiring the participation of locally affected communities in decision-making. The study investigates the compliance with the policies in a specific geographic, political and economic space. Cameroon was chosen because both institutions consider the country's biodiversity to be of global significance and are financing operations which have indirect and direct impacts on its biodiversity. The operations investigated include World Bank macro-economic policy advice and traditional investments in infrastructure projects as well as a GEF project specifically designed to protect biodiversity. The central finding of this research is that the institutions comply only partially and in an uneven manner with their own mandatory policy guidelines. In order to mitigate the risk of studying the institutions' operations in only one country and to ascertain possible systemic patterns of institutional behaviour, the results of the case studies are contrasted with the institutions internal evaluation reports covering their overall portfolios. A political ecology approach to international financial institutions is used to examine the political factors behind the emergence of the institutions' biodiversity agenda and the implementation of their operational policies. Analytical tools from both political science and the areas of sociology and economics concerned with theory of organization are employed to further the understanding of the functioning of the global institutions. Finally, the thesis seeks to contribute to defining the characteristics of global institutions which can mediate between the global and local levels by creating spaces of negotiation in which a plurality of views are taken into account.

SUMMARYReducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) has emerged as a potentially important component of the global policy mix to mitigate climate change. Against a background of increasing engagement between private sector entities and conservation organizations, private sector investment has emerged in REDD+. Despite slow developments at the international scale, there continues to be private sector interest in REDD+ and continued voluntary investments in REDD+ projects and initiatives. In order to better understand possible models for private sector engagement in REDD+, this study analysed the motivation of private sector stakeholders to engage in REDD+, the perception of the potential of REDD+, the critical obstacles to making REDD+ functional and how actors perceive themselves as part of future REDD+ scenarios. Based on interviews and a workshop with private sector actors, this study found that few expect a regulatory market for REDD+ to emerge and that credits from the voluntary market have to be tailored to specific needs. As a carbon offset, REDD+ provides insufficient motivation for investment, particularly if cheaper alternatives exist. Co-benefits such as biodiversity conservation and community development are more important when traditional corporate social responsibility motivations play a role. Project scale remains important not only for the fact that smaller projects are viewed as offering more visible benefits to stakeholders but also as a means of having more control over risks on the ground, posing a challenge for the design of jurisdictional REDD+. Moving towards supply chains that are free from deforestation offers an opportunity to tackle commodity-driven deforestation. While questions remain about how such an approach might be integrated into REDD+, it could help address a perceived gap between private sector understanding of the values of REDD+ and the risks associated with these values not arising – termed here as a ‘missing middle’.

Protected areas: a prism for a changing world

This chapter discusses the role of the financial mechanism under the Protocol, and the role of other forms of financial solidarity, in turn. The international governance of the financial mechanism under the Nagoya Protocol includes a key role not only for the Protocol's governing body, but also for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference of the Parties (COP). In voluntarily providing financial resources through other channels, developed countries are to take into account the needs of developing countries, as identified in their capacity need self-assessments, and may choose between bilateral, regional and multilateral channels. Intergovernmental discussions preparing for the entry into force of the Protocol have already identified the need to take a strategic approach to maximize opportunities for financial support as a complement to the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Governments, organizations, private sector and financial institutions are encouraged to provide financial resources for the implementation of the Protocol.Keywords: Conference of the Parties (COP); Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); financial mechanism; financial resources; Global Environment Facility (GEF); Nagoya Protocol

Biodiversity conservation in national parks has not shown an expected result. Biological natural resources degradation is still on going and its almost entirely due to human activities. Some researchers have indicated that socio-economic aspect is significantly related with the success of conservation. However, the researches have not yet shown in detail, which variabels were related with the succes conservation variables and how significant were the relations. This research was intended to identify the socio-economic variable(s) that would successfully determine biodiversity conservation in national park. The research was conducted in Gunung Halimun Salak Nasional Park, Ujung Kulon National Park, and Gunung Ciremai National Park from July to October 2015 using direct observation, literature study, and interview methods involving 150 respondents, selected based on random sampling in several resorts in the three national parks. Data were analyzed using pearson correlation tests using SPSS PSAW statistic 18. The achievement of biodiversity conservation was determined by the decrease in the number of individual species, increase in the rate of encroachment, increase of illegal natural resource utilization, increase violation of regulation, positive interaction, and biodiversity utilization. Results showed that variables leading to the succesful biodiversity conservation were: 1) determinant variable to decrease in the number of species is religion & customary system; 2) determinant variables to increase in encroachment rate is age and distance; 3) determinant variable to increase illegal natural resource utilization is land ownership; 4) determinant variable to increase violation of regulation is family dependant; 5) determinant variables to positive interaction is age and distance; 6) determinant variable to biodiversity utilization is education. Keywords: biodiversity conservation, determinant variables, national park, socio-economic variables

Integrated spatial planning for biodiversity conservation and food production

Ecological impact of phytoinvasions in Ukraine