Moderator: Prof. Dr. Jean Hugé, VUB-Open Universiteit Nederland
Speakers
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Reine Spiessens, WWF Belgium
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Luc Janssens de Bisthoven, CEBIOS-Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
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Stijn Neuteleers, Open University of the Netherlands & Maastricht Universitu
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David Leclère, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Addressing the biodiversity crisis is increasingly being seen as policy priority. The concepts of ecosystem services and natural capital are by now well-known and these allow to assess biodiversity in quantitative terms. This offers opportunities to ‘put a price’ on biodiversity, e.g. to monetize the benefits offered by ecosystems in the form of carbon sequestration or water retention. Although this approach can be useful when difficult trade-offs have to be made, any economic valuation of biodiversity carries the risk of abuse and misunderstanding, as multiple aspects of biodiversity can not (and should not?) be measured in economic terms. Hence biodiversity is now valued in a plural way: the instrumental, economic valuation of biodiversity still has a role to play, yet it is complemented by the intrinsic and the relational valuation of biodiversity. The plural valuation of biodiversity has been given a boost by recent policy milestones, such as the recent Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the ‘Plural Values Assessment Report’ of IPBES (the science-policy interface on biodiversity and ecosystem services).
In this session, we aim to discuss the linkages between the renewed biodiversity governance landscape and biodiversity valuation. What does the Global Biodiversity Framework mean for biodiversity conservation policies and for valuation in particular? What about the Aichi targets? What role can ecosystem services and natural capital still play in supporting biodiversity policies? What determines the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation and mainstreaming policies?
We will address these issues with experts from academia, from the NGO-sector and from the biodiversity science-policy interface.
