Aditya Gangadharan’s Post

India's northeast region holds about 28% of the nation's carbon stocks and 24% forest cover, including the resource-rich state of Meghalaya. 🖋 We are proud to share a significant step towards the preservation of Meghalaya’s rich natural resources with the recent signing of a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Meghalaya Biodiversity Board (MBB), North East Society for Agroecology Support (NESFAS) and TNC-The Nature Conservancy Centre (TNCC), aimed at strengthening community-based conservation efforts in the region. 🌿 With a focus on supporting Biodiversity Management Committees to upgrade People’s Biodiversity Registers, it will also help to build local capacity for the implementation of the Biological Diversity Act (2002) and support communities in planning for conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of natural resources. 📗 A training manual, tailored to the needs of Meghalaya for the preparation of the People’s Biodiversity Registers, was also launched as part of the event. Dr. Sushil Saigal, the Executive Director of TNCC, said, “through this partnership, we hope to support the already strong linkages between people and nature in the state of Meghalaya. This is a long-term commitment to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development." 🔗 To learn more our work in India: https://nature.ly/4eXbkqa Will McGoldrick Aditya Gangadharan Surabhi Bhardwaj Phrang Roy Pius Ranee #TheNatureConservancyCentre #TheNatureConservancyIndia #Meghalaya 📸 Photo Credits: © Bajanai Diengdoh/NESFAS (Photographed left to right) R Nainamalai (IFS) Member Secretary of Meghalaya Biodiversity Board, Sushil Saigal Executive Director TNCC and Pius Ranee Executive Director NESFAS

The NSW biodiversity outlook report 2024 shows that biodiversity is on the decline in New South Wales, with the report highlighting habitat loss as the key pressure on biodiversity across the state. It could be easy to feel disheartened, but it’s important to remember that there are good news stories, too. Like the success of the area of land permanently secured for conservation in New South Wales growing to 11% - reflecting what we hear from our members operating in NSW, that more and more people are choosing to protect, steward and restore land in their care.   Nature loss stands to deeply affect core elements of the economy and Australian society if it is not urgently addressed. We can turn it around - but only if we act. Australian landholders love nature and play an important role in looking after it – and it's in everyone's interest that they do so. Getting the right policy and investment settings to enable even more people to participate in private land conservation is critical; and a fit-for-purpose NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act that delivers stronger protections for nature, is also critical. https://lnkd.in/ehySzvJy

What is the business case for #nature and #biodiversity conservation? This is a question that corporates and financial institutions have been constantly asking and are trying to find answers, as they seek justification for long-term involvement versus short-term ROIs. Enablers are clearly needed to support mainstreaming the business case. The Hong Kong SAR Government is currently working to review and update the city-level Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan #BSAP 2016-2021 with a view to be published in 2025. China released the fourth edition of its national biodiversity policy, known as the Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan (2023-2030), in January 2024 to drive the implementation of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. The plan outlines biodiversity conservation targets for 2030 and 2035. Participation of the #private sector is explicitly acknowledged with proposed actions to involve companies and financial institutions to meet targets. We see the opportunity of early intervention in Hong Kong's next BSAP design and put in actions that will help lift the business case for nature and biodiversity in our city. Through a multi-stakeholder engagement process with business and finance sectors, expert academics and researchers, ecologists, and consultants, Business Environment Council structured 12 robust recommendations to support next BSAP implementation. Major ones include: ⏺️ Corporate Assessment and Disclosure on Biodiversity and Nature ⏺️ Sector-specific Support on Nature Actions ⏺️ Establishing a Multi-stakeholder Biodiversity Task Force ⏺️ Integrating Biodiversity Considerations into Development ⏺️ Strengthening the Business Case for Biodiversity ⏺️ Financing Biodiversity and Nature Conservation See below for our full recommendations: https://lnkd.in/gKadH-H2 Credit to Katie Chan in pulling this important piece together!

Biodiversity is declining more quickly within key protected areas than outside them. Delegates at the two-week United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP 16) in Colombia were told that designating more protected areas “will not automatically result in better outcomes for biodiversity.” Nearly a quarter of the world’s most biodiversity-rich land is within protected areas. A study found that within critical areas not protected, biodiversity had declined by an average of 1.9 percentage points in 2000–2020. Within the protected areas, it had declined by 2.1 percentage points. The authors say this may have arisen because many protected areas do not preserve the whole ecosystem but certain species, or they could have already been suffering degradation, which is why they were protected in the first place. They say specific local analyses are key to identifying why each is failing. Protecting 30% of land and water for nature by 2030 was a target world leaders agreed in 2022. Land protected for nature stands at 17.5% of land and 8.4% of marine areas — about half a percentage point more each since COP 15 in 2022. This will need to increase substantially to meet the target. https://lnkd.in/eFq4Wimc

Until we have something quantifiable, measurable, data that evidences impact, we will remain in the bottleneck situation we find ourselves in when approaching the subject of Biodiversity. PEOPLE, working with PURPOSE, for the good of the PLANET, delivering PROFIT making mechanisms and vehicles. As Marc Palahí says private and corporate investment can be part of the solution when looking to prevent further biodiversity loss globally. If we are to move to a more regenerative economy, as opposed to the fossil based economy our world is dependent on now, living in harmony with nature is cricital. Highly recommend taking the time me to read this report by the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance. #COP16 #biodiversity #natureinvesting #naturalcapital #impactinvesting #biodiversitycredits #nbs #naturebasedsolutions #forestry

We’re proud to be a forum member of the Biodiversity Credit Alliance who've released this great resource. Download: https://lnkd.in/evDScNCY This pivotal issue paper contributes to the clarification of concepts and language which are instrumental in the process of developing an inclusive and high-integrity market in biodiversity credits. In the rapidly emerging world of ecological units and markets, all stakeholders need to speak the same language. This issue paper brings together many perspectives to present an inclusive but clear definition that sets minimum standards for biodiversity credits and projects associated with them. Wilderlands have developed one of the world’s first voluntary biodiversity credits and sold over 100,000 units since launching in August 2022. The Biological Diversity Unit (BDU) represents a 1sqm plot of permanently-protected and actively managed land in high ecological value projects across Australia. Each unit is geotagged to enable supporters to track their impact through their personal profile, receive regular reports from expert ecologists on the ground and watch as nature flourishes thanks to their support. Learn more about Wilderlands: www.wilderlands.earth We welcome reports such as these that helps provide clarity and consistency as this burgeoning biodiversity market evolves and applaud the many leaders who contributed to this who also form part of the BCA community including Tim Coles and Dan Exton, Sean Weaver, Mariana Sarmiento, Simon Morgan, Paul Jepson, Gaurav Gupta, Timothy Male, Erika Korosi), Zoe Balmforth, and Laura Waterford.  

Biodiversity is declining more rapidly within key protected areas than outside them, according to research described by scientists as a “wake-up call.” This study challenges the assumption that designating protected areas alone is sufficient for...

Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework - IUCN: - Despite previous policies and actions to support biodiversity, the drivers of biodiversity loss have worsened and biodiversity continues to decline. - Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity have therefore adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework as a global strategy to safeguard nature. T- he GBF must be implemented ambitiously to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the vision of living in harmony with nature by 2050. - Governments must halt and reverse biodiversity loss to achieve a nature-positive world by 2030, which requires investment of at least USD 200 billion per year. https://lnkd.in/gmekUC_x

🌿 Together with Eidgenössisches Departement für auswärtige Angelegenheiten EDA, SWISSAID is committed to preserve #biodiversity: be it with #agroecology or the #CROPS4HD project. The aim of the project is to promote the use and conservation of traditional seed varieties in order to improve the livelihoods of the population, explains Simon Degelo, expert on seeds and biodiversity at SWISSAID.       Biodiversity is central to securing livelihoods. Most of the United Nations “17 Sustainable Development Goals” (#SDGs) also depend directly on a functioning ecosystem. The latest nutrition report by Alliance Sufosec shows that the #agroecology approach can promote #foodsecurity.     Read more here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/dFsW7_5m

The emerging market in biodiversity credits risks becoming a wild west unless guidelines based on the learnings from the carbon credits market are applied, according to a new CBA paper. This emerging ‘nature market’ promises to mobilise funding to help address the global biodiversity crisis, offering private companies the opportunity to invest in biodiversity conservation, restoration, and development to deliver net positive biodiversity gains, such as habitat protection or pest reduction. According to Biodiversity Credits Under the Microscope, by Sven Wunder - as of a year ago, 34 such schemes have been identified globally as in development, being piloted or already fully operational. However, many of the new biodiversity credit schemes, still in their infancy, lack independent verification and any external oversight, as well as transparency in how baselines are set and any form of impact evaluation. Our paper therefore sets out 10 important principles to ensure the integrity and successful implementation of a biodiversity credits market, ahead of COP16 in Colombia which will reconvene parties to review progress made towards halting and reversing biodiversity loss. Read more: https://lnkd.in/db9cWf4J Download the report: https://lnkd.in/duEvqqn6