In the first part of the session, Galitt Kenan, CEO of the Jane Goodall Institute France, shares her personal journey towards conservation and the role of NGOs like the Jane Goodall Institute in understanding and protecting wildlife.
The second part of the session deals with the notion of conservation: from the first historical examples of conservation in the world, to the current reality of conservation (IUCN status, protected land and marine areas, conservation and restoration target trajectories…). The class ends with a discussion whether it is technically and ethically possible to give an economic value to biodiversity to enhance conservation.
In December 2022, COP 15 Biodiversity in Montreal reached an agreement signed by 188 governments to protect biodiversity. Signatory countries agree on a 2030 horizon:
Today at least 22.5 million km2 (17%) of land and inland water ecosystems and 28.1 million km2 (8%) of coastal waters and the ocean are within protected areas and OECMs.Protection still far from the 30% target in 2030.Furthermore the degree of protection of biodiversity is very heterogeneous: the highest levels of protection significantly restrict human activities and allow an abundance of biodiversity, while areas with low levels of protection are far less effective.
Unlike the climate, if biodiversity is protected and restored, the situation can be improved. Protected, interconnected areas with conservation objectives can prove that a better future is possible. The example of the rewilding of the Danube delta, with the restoration of an area 4 times the size of Paris, the re-establishment of natural water flow and the restoration of wetlands, has enabled productive and functional ecosystems to return, and has seen the return of emblematic species (Danube pelican...).
In order to encourage biodiversity protection initiatives, and to bring the subject to the attention of decision-makers, nature is sometimes valued economically, but how?
A direct value can sometimes be established: for example, a forest can be valued through the price of the wood extracted from it, or a harvest or fishery can be quantified. The indirect value of certain ecosystem services can be quantified (carbon capture, water regulation, protection against natural disasters...).
But these efforts are subject to debate, given the difficulty of defining the perimeter (which part of the ecosystem? on which time scale?) or attribution (who pays? to whom?), as well as the ethical questions they raise.