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The Ecosystem Services Partnership
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News
If you would like to post post a news item, please contact sander.vanderploeg@wur.nl.
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14 July 2010
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"Saving biodiversity - An economic approach" - a special issue of IUCN's World Conservation Magazine
This issue looks at how market forces can be harnessed to save biodiversity as a complement to traditional conservation approaches. We read compelling statistics on the economic value of biodiversity and ecosystems and we hear that companies are making money from conserving biodiversity while helping to safeguard it. Markets for sustainable products and services are expanding rapidly as consumers exercise their power for change, and development projects are coming under ever greater environmental scrutiny from potential investors.
Studies show that the amount of funding currently being invested in conservation is far below what's needed, but if significant new funding does materialize, how should it be spent to best effect?
Read the views of leading environmentalists and join the debate.
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13 July 2010
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'TEEB report for Business' is now available
Business and enterprise have a huge role to play in how we manage, safeguard and invest in our natural capital. This report is aimed squarely at this sector and will provide practical guidance on the issues and the opportunities created by the inclusion in mainstream business practices of ecosystem- and biodiversity-related considerations. This report is for a wide array of enterprises, including those with direct impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity, such as mining, oil and gas and infrastructure; for those businesses that depend on healthy ecosystems and biodiversity for production, such as agriculture and fisheries; for industry sectors that finance and undergird economic activity and growth, like banks and asset managers, as well as insurance and business services; and for businesses that are selling ecosystem services or biodiversity-related products such as eco-tourism, eco-agriculture and bio-carbon.
Download the chapters of the report on the TEEB for Business website.
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13 July 2010
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'Businesses can profit from 'natural capital' - The CNN article
The CNN article on the launch of the "TEEB for business" report.
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8 July 2010
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'The Business of Biodiversity' - Article in Nature by Ricardo Bayon& Michael Jenkins
The value of ecosystems is largely invisible to markets. Ricardo Bayon and Michael Jenkins call on governments to drive regulatory and voluntary economic instruments that put a price on the services that nature provides.
See the article on the Nature website or download the article here.
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21 June 2010
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Digital Atlas of Ecosystem Services
The PEER institutes have combined their expertise on biodiversity and ecosystem services into a new initiative, PRESS (‘PEER Research on EcoSystem Services’), designed to deliver innovative scientific research products with policy relevance. It is also meant to facilitate interaction with national and European stakeholders from all relevant policy domains, through a multi-scale assessment that links different governance levels. Furthermore, if financing is secured on the long-term, one of the objectives is to build a European digital atlas of ecosystem services. The project is designed to strengthen the scientific understanding of relations between biodiversity and ecosystem services and improve impact assessment tools by linking mapping of ecosystem services and policy evaluation approaches through illustrative case-studies. It will deliver tests of models, evaluation of associated uncertainties and a guideline for mapping of ecosystem services. The products of the project will include a European digital atlas or information system of ecosystem services and the assessment of potential trade-offs and synergies, to fully assist the agenda of the policy process. All these products are connected to stakeholders as input for their process of setting the research agenda for the coming decade. More...
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FSC certification to be expanded with Ecosystem Services!
This 4 year FSC / GEF project will develop a reliable market-related tool for verifying claims related to ecosystem benefits such as carbon sequestration, watershed protection, biodiversity conservation, disaster risk prevention, and recreational services. Awareness raising, training and promotion will follow at the national and global level. Read more on the FSC project website
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New website of Research Group Ecosystem Services (Berlin, Germany)
The objective of this interdisciplinary research group is to improve understanding of the interactions between market-based instruments, ecosystem services and quality of life in Central European cultural landscapes. The project is jointly managed by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, Berlin; the Ecologic Institute, Berlin; the Öko-Institut e.V.; and the Institute for Landscape Management at the University of Freiburg. This innovative collaborative effort between an academy of sciences, a university and two policy-oriented think tanks has been designed, on one hand, to obtain scientific insights while, on the other hand, creating practical approaches between the poles of land-use, nature conservation and climate protection.
You find the website here.
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New funds for Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation research
The UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) are pleased to announce £40·5m for the Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) research programme. More information
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Announcement ESP Conference 2010!
The Ecosystem Service Partnership is organizing an international conference at Salzau Castle to provide methodological, strategic and institutional solutions for the future development and application of the ecosystem service approach. The conference will be held from June 7th - 11th at the Salzau Castle and Kiel University, Germany. Find the conceference details here.
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New ESP website!
On june 30th the new official website Ecosystem Services Partnership was launched! From now on the ESP will communicate through its websites on www.es-partnership.org and http://www.ecosystemservicespartnership.org.
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