Session 3

What is conservation?

Summary

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.

Course Outline

00:00
Speaker from the NGO world
01:30
01:30
Historical perspective on conservation
00:15
01:45
Global objectives & different levels of conservation
00:30
02:15
How can conservation be economically enhanced and financed?
00:30

Key Learnings

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What are the global objectives for protecting biodiversity?

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:

  • Effective conservation and management of at least 30% of the world’s land, coastal areas and oceans.
  • Restoration of 30% of terrestrial and marine ecosystems
  • Mobilizing at least $200 billion per year from public and private sources for biodiversity-related funding
  • Requiring transnational companies and financial institutions to monitor, assess, and transparently disclose risks and impacts on biodiversity through their operations, portfolios, supply and value chain.

What is the reality of protection today?

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.

Protecting biodiversity: allowing abundance to return

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...).

How can we put an economic value on biodiversity?

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.

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Student Projects

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Speaker

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Focus

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Pedagogical Note