Our planet is facing an unprecedented and accelerating biodiversity crisis, driven by human activity and compounded by climate change, which is bringing ever more severe weather to a world already strained by poverty and inequality. Species are disappearing at accelerating rates, entire ecosystems are collapsing at alarming speeds, and millions of people struggle to secure the most basic needs of water, food, energy, and safety.
At World Trade Organization (WTO), the key characteristic according to which support to agricultural producers is classified is their ability to distort international trade rather than their incidence and impacts on social or environmental dimensions. There is a lack of studies and analytical framework to guide policy decisions, such as understanding how specific support, in general, and in different agricultural sub-sectors, are linked to biodiversity, economic, social, and trade outcomes. In this context, our work contributes to filling this gap.
Assessments of coral reef biodiversity generally focus on corals and fishes, although there is a variety of other taxa that live within the structure of coral reefs. Rubble cryptofauna includes sessile and motile species that inhabit dead coral and coral rubble and play critical roles in coral reef ecosystems. The examination of rubble cryptofauna can provide insights into the health and functioning of modern coral reefs.
Marking 60 years of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN Red List), this report captures its beginnings and tracks key milestones and achievements. It explains how the IUCN Red List is used to conserve species, provides pointers to useful Red List resources and highlights priorities for the future.
This guide aims to help businesses navigate the rapidly evolving voluntary biodiversity credit (VBC) markets and decide
whether and how to engage in VBCs.
It is intended for companies that want to help halt biodiversity loss or restore and regenerate biodiversity in the context of nature-positive strategies. It is relevant for those with biodiversity strategies in place, those in the process of developing a biodiversity strategy, or those considering one.
Aim: To present a short, practical guide to integrate climate change mitigation (CCM) into Protected and Conserved Area (PCA) management and decision-making and as a companion to the WCPA technical report Enhancing climate change mitigation in protected areas.
Audience: PCA managers and decision-makers who are interested in how CCM relates to PCA management, how PCA management can support CCM, how to incorporate CCM into existing management plans for PCAs and how to develop policies on the creation and management of PCAs for CCM.
Gender equality is a ubiquitous national goal, yet sectoral gender data gaps to support this goal persist. These gaps are both structural and sexist, concealing women’s contributions and impeding actions that would strengthen livelihoods and economic development, food security, and environmental sustainability. The small-scale fisheries sector offers a cogent example of this phenomenon. Building on lessons from the Illuminating Hidden Harvests initiative, we identify systemic changes and specific indicators needed to fill these gaps.
This guide is for starting conversations about the strengths of nature in adapting to challenges of climate change. The guide started with a wish by organisations working in conservation, agriculture, and community adaptation to climate change to help communities understand “naturebased solutions”. The guide reminds facilitators and participants that nature-based solutions are just a modern way of describing how life has always been, how the functioning of nature has always supported us.
Marine ecosystems face threats from human-induced stressors like climate change, pollution, and habitat loss. Despite international endeavors, significant gaps remain in understanding ocean dynamics. This article presents six policy recommendations to integrate plankton populations into conservation frameworks. These could be leveraged in the process approved at CBD’s COP16 in Colombia to update criteria for defining ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs) and supporting science-based Marine Protected Area (MPA) designations.
Acknowledging the diversity of forest contexts and the need for tailored approaches, this chapter examines the policy instruments that can operationalize a differentiated forest-climate agenda to achieve conservation and restoration outcomes.
