Conservation and economics

Question 1

Global infrastructure for resource consumption is primarily owned

Answer 1

Business as usual is cancelled

The private sector plays a large role in solving such existence crisis

First movers

Private sector wants the public sector to take/minimize risk

Question 2

Distribution of biomass on Earth

Answer 2

Terrestrial: 85%
Marine: 1%
Deep sea: 14%

Wild mammals: 4%
Domesticated animals: 60%
Humans: 36%

Poultry: 71%
Birds: 29%

Question 3

Biodiversity has a value

Answer 3

Biodiversity and ecosystem services are assumed contributing at least 1.5-2 times the global GDP.

Annual global loss estimated at 6-27%

Crops which depends on pollination represent 35% of the global crop-based food production

Biodiversity and nature is important to us:
- provisioning services
- recreational experiences
- Climate mitigation

Question 4

Willingness to pay more

Answer 4

Willingness to invest more for proximity to nature (coast, lake, forest)

Willingness to pay for more nature in urban environments

Question 5

Valuation studies about biodiversity and nature protection in Denmark

Answer 5

Willingness to pay for protecting nature/biodiversity - ca. 1500 DKK per household/year

People are willing to pay even more for:
- more variation in nature
- protecting threatened biodiversity and nature
- indigenous species that immigrating species (e.g. movement as a result of climate change)
- protecting local compared to international nature

Question 6

Competing land use interests - nature areas

Answer 6

While increase in nature areas can increase biodiversity

Have to also look at the costs of avoided benefits from agriculture and forestry + green energy (windmills, solar panels) + uncertainty about future forgone benefits

Question 7

Biodiversity and regulation

Answer 7

Biodiversity is a public good and a market-based system which ensures the supply of biodiversity required by society is non-existing

Regulation: juridical instruments

Market-based instruments

Biodiversity financing gap:
- need - funding = funding gap = 550-760 billion euros
- private financing is a prerequisite, relying on increasing private funding may not deliver
- decreasing harmful subsidies

Question 8

Market-based instruments

Answer 8

Voluntary
- subsidies and grants (cross compliance)
- tax
- prices, market boards, tariffs

• certification
• negotiated agreements
• auctions
• marketing

Question 9

Non-market-based instruments

Answer 9

Mandatory:
- command and control: regulation by law
- property rights
- international conventions

Voluntary:
- public purchase and management
- conservation trusts

Complimentary:
- persuasion
- international conventions
- information, advise, extension

Question 10

Green bonds could allocate more funding for sustainable investments

Answer 10

Very little share has been allocated for investing in more sustainable land use

The majority is invested in energy, transport and building

Question 11

Strategies for mitigating risk

Answer 11

Avoid, minimize, restore and offset

Data driven mapping and quantification of net-impact in value-chain

Recommendations:
- avoid harmful investments
- improve sustainability in the value-chain
- invest in nature’s ‘infrastructure’/nature-based solutions
- compensate and offset

Question 12

Biodiversity offsetting

Answer 12

Biodiversity offsets are measurable conservation outcomes designed to compensate for adverse and unavoidable impacts of projects, in addition to prevention and mitigation measures already implemented.

Question 13

UK Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)

Answer 13

BNG is compulsory requirement in Environment Act 2021, which requires development projects to guarantee they deliver at least 10% improvement of biodiversity

Question 14

biodiversity metrics can be used by…

Answer 14

Ecologists or developers carrying out a biodiversity assessment

Developers who have commissioned a biodiversity assessment

Planning authorities who are interpreting metric outputs in a planning application

Communities who want to understand the impacts of a local development

Landowners or land managers who want to provide biodiversity units from their sites to others

Question 15

Summary

Answer 15

Ecological systems and economic systems are connected

Biodiversity has values (context, scale, species, time)

Investments in biodiversity protection

Private sector biodiversity footprint

Biodiversity regulation, financing and incentives

Criteria for evaluating instruments

Biodiversity offsetting