Tackling the risks of wildlifeborne disease pandemics – policy and investment priorities
2 Nov 2020
Despite a recent spike in awareness on the risks that human-wildlife interactions pose to global health, emerging evidence indicates that outbreaks of animal-borne diseases are on the rise, mostly due to environmental degradation via the intensification of agriculture and other commercial activities such as wildlife trade, poaching, husbandry, fishing, infrastructure development, mining and logging. This […]
Promoting smart biodiverse farming for agricultural sustainability in remote communities
2 Nov 2020
Coffee is a staple of the global economy, accounting for 15 to 20 billion USD worth of exports per year, and providing jobs for tens of millions of hospitality workers around the world. But as climate change, deforestation and biodiversity loss compound the existing inequities facing the world’s 25 million smallholder coffee producers – pushing […]
Collaborating to operationalise landscape approaches for nature, development and sustainability
2 Nov 2020
The potential that integrated landscape approaches (ILAs) could have in replenishing the Earth’s ecosystems while concurrently tackling global and societal challenges is staggering. Yet, despite featuring prominently in UN Conventions as promising solutions to climate change, biodiversity loss, food insecurity and socioeconomic disparity, they remain underresearched, underreported and, as a result, untapped by societies worldwide. […]
The Hindu Kush Himalaya call for action
2 Nov 2020
Home to four biodiversity hotspots, six UNESCO natural World Heritage Sites, 30 Ramsar sites, 330 IBAs and a diverse array of cultures hosting more than 1000 languages, the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region is truly a global asset in the fight against biocultural loss. But its future is at stake. Rifts and inequities between the 1.9 […]
Rangeland health restoration initiative for “One World – One Health”
2 Nov 2020
Rangelands are staples of human and planetary health, sustaining 20 percent of global livelihoods and providing a wealth of ecosystem services spanning from carbon sequestration and water filtration to habitat provision and biogeochemical recycling. Yet, despite occupying half of the world’s land surface and harbouring much of its biocultural diversity, they remain both undervalued and […]
Voices of the Landscape: Land transitions towards securing legal and customary land tenure of Indigenous Peoples and decolonizing conservation
2 Nov 2020
Indigenous Peoples’ status as critical and time-immemorial biodiversity guardians shouldn’t need verifying, but a series of recent studies are finally opening the global conservation scene’s eyes to the pivotal role that they play in preserving the world’s ecosystems. There is now clear evidence that biodiversity is declining at a slower rate in formally recognized Indigenous […]
Lessons from Indonesia: Building a Nature-Based Economy through Jurisdictional Approaches
2 Nov 2020
The Sustainable Districts Association of Indonesia (LTKL) is a collaboration forum established and managed by Indonesian district governments to promote sustainable land and resource use through collective action. The forum – comprising nine ‘Kabupaten Lestari’, or sustainable districts – supports governments with the development and implementation of jurisdiction-wide sustainability policies, strategies and programs. This paper […]
Assessing and enhancing capacities to restore ecosystems globally
2 Nov 2020
Through Resolution 73/284, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2021– 2030 to be the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The resolution calls for supporting and scaling up efforts to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide, as well as to raise awareness of the importance of ecosystem restoration. To support the implementation of the […]
Indigenous-led solutions to the biodiversity crisis and forest protection
2 Nov 2020
The lion’s share (as much as 80 percent by some estimates) of the world’s remaining biodiversity intersects with Indigenous lands. Yet, despite having an unparalleled understanding of the most biodiverse spaces on the planet, Indigenous communities are rarely properly consulted in conservation decision-making processes. Drawing on case studies from Long Pilah, Long Tungan and the […]
Protected areas in a post-COVID world
2 Nov 2020
In recent years, conservation approaches that promote strict separation of humans and nature have fallen under criticism, largely owing to their disregard for rural and Indigenous communities who manage and depend on protected areas. However, against the backdrop of Covid-19 – a zoonotic crisis that forcefully illustrates the dangers of human intrusion into wildlife habitats […]