Communities, Nature, and their role in supporting biodiversity. Images taken on a field visit to the Ruhango district. Around the world, biodiversity is disappearing at an unprecedented rate. This isn’t just a crisis for ecosystems—it’s a crisis for people. Biodiversity supports food security, cultural identity, economic livelihoods, and climate resilience. Yet, the response to this crisis is too often shaped by top-down policies that overlook local communities lived experiences and values. The EU-funded PLANET4B project aims to explore how to [...]

Big agriculture and globalization have trimmed down the incredible variety of cultivated plants to a bare minimum. But all is not lost! PLANET4B’s Agrobiodiversity management case study explores how we might still preserve the variety of disappearing species and traditional varieties. […]

By Samantha Green and Geraldine Brown A global bioblitz opportunity for engaging in nature recording and thinking about our local nature and biodiversity ‘City Nature Challenge’ is a global four-day nature-recording extravaganza in April where citizens worldwide compete to record nature and wildlife sightings in their area, usually recording species by using the iNaturalist app. Recordings can be of any wild plant, animal, fungi, slime mould or evidence of life found in the city. Last year, worldwide, nearly 2.5 million [...]

Current main trends in the five key sectors —agriculture, education, the fashion industry, finance, and trade— contribute to biodiversity loss by driving resource exploitation and overuse through globalised, standardised systems. However, given their vast influence, these sectors also have the potential to drive positive change. The preservation of diverse cultivated species, innovations in education, the promotion of sustainable fashion, the growth of green and ethical investments, and stricter trade regulations can all play a crucial role in shaping decisions that [...]

How do experiental learning methods promote understanding the complexity of ecosystems? Beyond practical knowledge: what are the benefits of school gardens? Interactive teaching methods: do they really work in schools? […]

This year’s Nature Action Dialogues, hosted by UNEP-WCMC, brought together almost 300 leaders from business, finance, and conservation to explore how companies can drive meaningful action for nature. As part of PLANET4B, a colleague from UNEP-WCMC joined discussions with sustainability teams to understand their challenges and strategies for promoting pro-nature behaviors within their organizations. Source: UNEP-WCMC The discussion has taught us many lessons, so we share some key insights: Barriers to action include lack of legal requirements, monetary [...]