SDG Policy Brief #2

Biodiversity conservation

Simone Lovera Bilderbeek, Joyeeta Gupta, Mirjam Ros-Tonen

SDG 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems,
sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land
degradation and halt biodiversity loss

Mainstreaming biodiversity protection in development

1. Adopt a human and community rights based approach. Global biodiversity loss is a key threat to food security, human
health, and the sustainable development agenda in general.
SDG 15 policies should fully respect the rights of
Biodiversity loss reduces the biosphere's resilience as biotic
Indigenous Peoples, women, local communities and
components or assemblages of life forms lose components and
other rightsholder groups (e.g. land tenure, territorial
therefore lose production and cycling capacity, including water
rights). and carbon cycling. The effective mainstreaming of biodiversity
2. Recognize and support local conservation. SDG 15 in sustainable development policy, and the full and effective
policies and indicators should promote effective, implementation of SDGs 14 and 15 and the Aichi targets of the
efficient and equitable approaches to conserving Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) is essential in this respect.
biodiversity by respecting and supporting community Mainstreaming should be a two-way process: policy efforts
conservation initiatives and related traditional should not only focus on mainstreaming biodiversity into
knowledge, including through non-economic incentives broader sustainable development policies, but also on
mainstreaming socially, economically and environmentally
like the appropriate recognition of Indigenous and
sound and rights-based sustainable development approaches
community conserved territories and areas (ICCAs).
into biodiversity policy.
3. Ensure global policy coherence. The High-Level Political
Forum should help ensure improved policy coherence in Adopting a rights based approach
biodiversity policy and law, e.g. through promoting
coherence between the three Rio Conventions. The emphasis of Agenda 2030 on rights-based approaches
provides a strong mandate to ensure sustainable development
4. Redefine forests. Reaching the target of halting policies, including biodiversity conservation and restoration
deforestation by 2020 and promoting reforestation can policies, fully respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local
help address the global biodiversity crisis, provided an communities, women and other rightsholder groups, including
adequate ecosystem-based definition of forests is land tenure and territorial rights. Conventional exclusionary
adopted. approaches like top-down protected area management should
be phased out and replaced by bottom-up policies and
5. Avoid the financialization of nature. Halting approaches that fully respect and support endogenous
deforestation and biodiversity loss requires both community conservation initiatives and related traditional
qualitative and quantitative measures to address knowledge. Women and Indigenous Peoples play a key role in
unsustainable commodity chains. Market-oriented such community conservation initiatives, including as holders of
approaches, including the financialization of nature and traditional knowledge, yet due to their economically and
partnerships with profit-oriented companies, can politically marginal position and contextual inequities in general
hamper the adoption of effective quantitative measures, they will lose out in market-based approaches that trigger the
like phasing out perverse incentives in line with Aichi commodification, privatization and financialization of the
target 3. commons. Non-market based approaches like the appropriate

The Centre for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS) was launched on 24 June 2015 as a new venture of the Amsterdam Institute for
Social Science Research (AISSR) at the University of Amsterdam. This series of policy briefs is the outcome of the ‘Critical Perspectives on
Governance by Sustainable Development Goals’ Conference organized in Amsterdam from 27-29 June 2016. This policy brief has been
prepared in collaboration with the Global Forest Coalition, http://www.globalforestcoalition.org.
recognition of Indigenous and community conserved While the efforts of business and industry to support zero
territories and areas (ICCAs) have proven to be more deforestation by 2020 targets are laudable, for-profit actors
supportive of sustainable livelihoods and in promoting are inherently unable to support the necessary qualitative
effective and efficient biodiversity conservation. This measures, such as phasing out subsidies and other perverse
importance of ICCAs should also be recognized in the incentives that stimulate mega-projects and the demand for
proposed SDG indicator framework. harmful commodities like meat, soy and palm oil, in line with
Aichi target 3 of the CBD. Public private partnerships and other
Address incidental and intentional incoherence forms of business engagement have so far failed to address
implementation, legitimacy and participation gaps in
The three Rio Conventions – the UN Framework Convention sustainable development policy making and can compromise
on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biodiversity objective public governance. The HLPF should engage in an
(CBD) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification open, objective discussion about the risks of partnerships
(UNCCD) – form the pillars of global biodiversity and land triggering undue corporate control over public policy making
governance. However, there is a persistent lack of coherence in the field of biodiversity and sustainable development in
between especially the UNFCCC regime and the CBD regime general.
considering that the policy guidance of the Parties to the CBD
on the need for climate change mitigation and adaptation Acknowledgements
policies that do not harm biodiversity has not been adopted by
the Parties to the UNFCCC. The High-Level Political Forum Simone Lovera Bilderbeek is Director of the Global Forest
(HLPF) can play an instrumental role in ensuring enhanced Coalition based in Paraguay and finalizing her PhD thesis at the
dialogue and collaboration between the three Rio Centre of Sustainable Development Studies/Amsterdam
Conventions, and ensuring that climate change, biodiversity, Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR). Joyeeta Gupta is
and desertification policies are fully coherent and mutually Professor of Environment and Development in the Global
supportive. This can be done through promoting active South at the University of Amsterdam and Professor of Law
collaboration between the two secretariats on this issue. and Policy in Water Resources and Environment at the
UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in Delft. Mirjam
Adopt an ecosystem-based definition of forests Ros-Tonen is Associate Professor at the University of
Amsterdam (CSDS and AISSR).
The adoption of a sound ecosystem-based definition of forests
is a pre-condition for policy coherence. Without such a
definition the expansion of forest cover can be detrimental to
biodiversity, as it would include the replacement of Further reading
biodiversity-rich ecosystems with monoculture tree Backstrand, K and E. Lovbrand (2006). Planting trees to
plantations, including plantations of alien invasive species. mitigate climate change: Contested discourses of ecological
Ecosystem conversion and invasive species are the two most modernization, green governmentality and civic
important causes of biodiversity loss and land degradation. environmentalism. Global Environmental Politics 6(1): 50–75.
Forest restoration initiatives are important, but should be
based on free prior and informed consent of relevant FAO (2015). Global forest resources assessment 2015. FAO:
rightsholders and the active participation and collaboration of Rome.
Indigenous Peoples, local communities and women. The HLPF Hassan, R., R. Scholes and N. Ash (eds.) (2005.) Ecosystems
should mandate the FAO to coordinate the elaboration of a and human well-being: Current state and trends. In:
system-wide definition of forests that qualifies forests as tree- Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Island Press: Washington,
dominated ecosystems and thus facilitates policy actions that DC.
address both deforestation and forest degradation.
Kothari, A., with C. Corrigan, H. Jonas, A. Neumann, and H.
Prevent financialization of forests Shrumm (eds.) (2012). Recognising and supporting territories
and areas conserved by indigenous peoples and local
Reaching Target 15.2 on halting deforestation by 2020 is a communities: Global overview and national case studies. CBD
litmus test for the relevance of the SDGs for sustainable Technical Series No. 64. Secretariat of the Convention on
development policy. There is an urgent need to restore trust in Biological Diversity, ICCA Consortium, Kalpavriksh, and Natural
global governance as the Millennium Development Goals were Justice: Montreal.
only partially met due to the failure to pursue
Lovera, S. (2009). REDD realities. In: U. Brand, N. Bullard, N., E.
transformational change that addresses the root causes of
interrelated environmental, social and economic crises. While Lander, T. Müller (eds.) Contours of climate justice: ideas for
the success of over 100 countries in halting forest cover loss so shaping new climate and energy politics. Dag Hammarskjøld
Foundation: Uppsala, pp. 46-53.
far shows that the target of zero deforestation in 2020 is
achievable, halting deforestation globally will require both Pattberg, P., F. Biermann, S. Chan and A. Mert (eds.) (2012 ).
qualitative and quantitative measures to address Public-private partnerships for sustainable development,
unsustainable commodity chains and other drivers of forest emergence, influence and legitimacy. Edward Elgar Publishing
loss like large infrastructure and mining projects. Limited: Cheltenham.