The scientific community has overlooked the potential benefits of reducing consumption and resource use on biodiversity preservation policies in recent years, according to a new paper.
The study, led by researchers at the Technical University in Berlin and published in the journal Nature Conservation, reviewed scientific literature from 2017 to 2021 and publications by nature conservation associations, identifying a significant gap in linking the reduction of resource consumption – or “sufficiency” – with biodiversity outcomes.
“Very few publications to date have addressed the link between sufficiency and biodiversity. And when they do, this linkage often remains unspecific and thus superficial,” the study said.
“The biodiversity crisis is primarily caused by land use changes and direct exploitation. It therefore is caused by the mode of living and can consequently be mitigated through a change of that mode of living and the associated consumption of resources.”
Researchers analysed 494 scientific papers and 286 publications by nature conservation associations, finding that only 44 and 12 of them respectively addressed sufficiency in relation to biodiversity conservation.
Notably, in 20 scientific publications sufficiency and biodiversity were mentioned only in passing, without further explanation of how reducing consumption and resource use could enhance nature conservation efforts.
STRIKING RESULTS
“When looking at the links between sufficiency and biodiversity established in the scientific publications, it is striking that the necessity of sufficiency for the preservation of biodiversity is mentioned non-specifically in 32 of 44 publications,” the study said.
“Possible reasons are that sufficiency potentially has broader political implications, that the term is not descriptive and that other terms are used to describe similar strategies.”
The paper urged decision makers, conservationists, and researchers to increasingly address biodiversity loss from a consumption perspective, and called for further investigation into how embracing sufficiency strategies could boost conservation policies.
“Sufficiency in the context of biodiversity protection should be researched in greater depth in the future,” researchers said.
A report published in March by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warned that surging natural resource use represents a major threat to biodiversity, and is poised to hamper the achievement of climate and nature goals, including those in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
According to UNEP, extraction of natural resources, including crops, wood, and minerals, is set to increase by 60% by 2060, unless bold actions are taken.
In a separate report, the UN agency sounded the alarm on the rise of food waste and its fallout on ecosystem and species conservation, emphasising that up to 30% of the world’s agricultural land used to grow food that gets squandered.
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
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