Corvus Centre for Conservation Policy

LAND USE AND BIODIVERSITY Land use is a general term and it refers to how we build on use protect travel across reside on and play on the physical land base and the waters that support it. Land use decision-making is the primary vector for biodiversity loss (and protection) but we struggle to link the science the policy and the decisions. NATURAL INFRASTRUCTURE Natural infrastructure refers to the facilities and systems that provide the services essential to sustain society and which are principally provided or governed by nature. This encompasses the flora fauna landforms and water bodies (the assets) the activities they perform as a part of their natural cycles (the functions) and the resultant safety comfort and enjoyment we experience (the benefits). Natural ecosystems are increasingly recognized as providing vital infrastructure services but how they should be valued catalogued and protected by policymakers is unclear. NATURE AND CLIMATE CHANGE The change in our climate due to human activity has fundamentally shifted our relationship with nature. Concepts like ‘range of natural variation’ will become increasingly wobbly foundations as the climate crisis turbocharges the biodiversity crisis. Yet nature will also be part of the solution as a key aspect of nature-based solutions will be those directed at the climate crisis. While biodiverse landscapes will play a vital role in addressing climate change our practical knowledge regarding what that role will be is still lacking. FINANCE AND BIODIVERSITY The Convention on Biological Diversity recognized that a limiting factor of their last strategic plan was the failure to engage and mobilize the finance community. Governments are increasingly costing environmental impacts in budgets and regulation. Mainstreaming biodiversity protection means incorporation into the flow of public and investment dollars which means synchronizing economics and natural science. The finance industry is moving forward to require biodiversity-related disclosures but we lack usable valid ways to measure biodiversity in this context.