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Agriculture and conservation
In 2021, IUCN launched the IUCN Flagship Report Series, to help demonstrate the importance of conserving nature for human well-being and all life on Earth. This report, the second in the series, focuses on agriculture and nature. The interactions, synergies, and tradeoffs between the two sit at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which calls for ending hunger and ensuring food security while also mandating the protection and restoration of nature. Whether the two can be achieved simultaneously, and if so how, are crucial questions for humanity and our planet. IUCN therefore explores the positive and negative relationships between agriculture and nature conservation and mobilises new modelling approaches to examine both imperatives within a range of realistic policies.
EcoGourmet: Bringing sustainable fish to your plate
Since 2009, EcoGourmet has enhanced the technical and administrative capacities of artisanal fishing cooperatives and to achieve responsible fishing. EcoGourmet facilitates the signing of fair agreements between suppliers, fishing cooperatives and restaurants and sensitizes consumers to the ramifications of their purchasing decisions. Participating restaurants offer locally sourced, sustainably caught fish. Negative impacts on ecosystems are reduced while profits for local fishers increased.
Making money from scraps
To address the need for proper management of fisheries waste, members of the fishing community El Caracol in Guasave, Sinaloa state, founded Grupo Crustil – a small-scale processing enterprise. The group uses discards from artisanal fisheries to produce fishmeal. The process creates opportunities for alternative income generation, maximises product utilization and mitigates environmental impacts.
Green Fins: An approach to managing a sustainable diving industry
The solution targets threats to coral reefs related to scuba diving, one of the fastest growing tourism industries. Its best practice guidelines promote commercial sustainability and a contribution to increase coral reef resilience. Members are equipped with the necessary information, tools and training to mitigate threats, implement sustainable practices and promote environmental education and awareness amongst the dive industry and local communities and limit their impact on the environment.
A conservation model for Costa Rica
Costa Rica faces enormous challenges in ensuring the sustainability of conservation endeavours. A shortage of sustainable finance continue to exert pressure on protected areas. To ensure the long-term funding of conservation, SINAC, together with its partners, created the public-private conservation initiative Forever Costa Rica. This non-profit association aims to complement state and private efforts to preserve biodiversity e.g. through the implementation of management plans for fourteen MPAs.
Creating direct incentives through ecotourism for protecting wildlife
The Nam Nern Night Safari is a tour in Nam Et-Phou Louey NPA, Lao PDR, designed to give communities incentives to reduce illegal hunting and sale of endangered species. Tourism has been initiated as a measure to reduce threats in addition to enforcement and outreach activities. Incentives are created through a contract signed with the 1,186 families of 14 forest-edge communities, which ensures income to families for every tourist and wildlife sighting on the tour.
Profiting from eco-tourism in Cambodia
Through eco-tourism the WCS, park authorities, business and communities are protecting globally significant endangered species in northern Cambodia. These enterprises generate enough revenue for local people to change their behavior to more wildlife friendly ways, while also increasing their wealth. Communities manage eco-lodges and provide employment. A community payment directly linked to conservation is discretionary spending for the village committee.
Farming with Biodiversity: Towards nature-positive production at scale
This WWF report is part their contribution to boosting nature-positive production at scale. The report outlines changes that are needed to create food systems that support rather than exploit nature, with a focus on agricultural production systems. It also feeds into the advocacy for the UNFCCC 26 (Climate CoP). The report highlights that nature positive production of food can and must be part of the solution for addressing biodiversity loss.
FAO’s 10 elements of agroecology: Guiding the transition to sustainable food and agricultural systems
Agroecology is integral to FAO’s Common Vision for Sustainable Food and Agriculture. It offers a unique approach to meeting significant increases in the future food needs. Agroecology is an integrated approach that applies ecological and social concepts and principles to the design and management of food and agricultural systems. These 10 elements set out the core principles.
CBD Programme of Work on Agricultural Biodiversity
This CBD programme of work consists of four elements (assessment, adaptive management, capacity-building, and mainstreaming) and three cross-cutting initiatives (on conservation of pollinators, soil biodiversity, and biodiversity for food and nutrition). The programme of work identifies policy issues that governments can consider when addressing such matters, while considering various ways and means to improve the capacity of stakeholders and to promote the mainstreaming and integration of agricultural biodiversity into sectoral and cross-sectoral plans and programmes at all levels.
IWC Whale Watching Handbook
Whale watching is a rapidly growing activity, and the Whale Watching Handbook was designed to help the industry develop in a way that is sustainable in the long-term, for both the whale populations that are observed and the economies that depend on their presence.
As the inter-governmental organisation charged with conservation of whale stocks, the IWC is well-placed to provide the expertise needed to understand and manage the potential impacts of whale watching on the whales. These foundations have been strengthened by a partnership with the Convention for Migratory Species (CMS) and the result is a comprehensive, living and evolving resource on whale watching, available in three languages.
State of the Wildlife Economy in Africa (2021)
Natural resources and wildlife are traditionally seen as inputs and not as assets in a national economy. This approach has seen limited government resources being invested in the wildlife economy or allocated to supporting wildlife resources. If this is to change there is a need to illustrate to governments and other stakeholders the economic contribution of wildlife resources to local, national and regional economies. Too little is currently understood about this contribution.
