This open access book presents useful knowledge and lessons that derive from on-the-ground activities and contributes to policy recommendations, focusing on the reciprocal connections between business and biodiversity in the context of social-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS). It introduces a set of concrete examples demonstrating the relevance of SEPLS to aspects of reciprocal connections between business and biodiversity. The case studies highlight the roles, attitudes, motivations, and actions of multiple stakeholders in conserving biodiversity while providing other benefits that directly or indirectly contribute to businesses. They also illustrate on-the-ground impacts of businesses in SEPLS including positive and negative ones, providing insights on how to categorize and measure the impacts and dependency of businesses on biodiversity and natures contributions to people. This will help facilitate policy learning and evidence-based decision-making to promote the achievement of global goals including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Many of the case studies concerning SEPLS management derived from the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI) provide rich evidence to detail and help clarify the interdependency between businesses and biodiversity while exemplifying innovative solutions to facilitate more sustainable business decisions and actions for socially and ecologically sound outcomes. Furthermore, the experiences in managing SEPLS where multiple actors negotiate and collaborate to meet diverse needs and interests provide practical insights on the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and how to build partnerships to promote systemic changes towards sustainable futures. The book provides key messages derived from a synthesis of the case study findings, which will help stakeholders including policymakers, scientists, and practitioners to deepen the understanding of reciprocal connections between business and biodiversity and clarify challenges and opportunities for promoting more sustainable businesses and at the same time safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystems. This in turn will help further the science-policy-practice interfaces related to biodiversity, ecosystem services, and sustainable development.
Chapter
1. Introduction.
Chapter
2. BioTrade Production and Sourcing of
Siam Benzoin Gum in Northern Viet Nam.
Chapter
3. Chestnut
Production-Related Businesses in the Courel Mountains of Galicia, NW Spain:
An Opportunity for Biodiversity Conservation, Ecosystem Restoration and Rural
Development.
Chapter
4. Traditional Environmental Knowledge and Trees
Conservation: The Example of the White Truffle (Tuber Magnatum Pico) in
Italy.
Chapter
5. Nature-Positive Approaches to Sustainable Tourism
Development in the Panchase Region of Nepal.
Chapter
6.
Business-Culture-Biodiversity Nexus: The Foundation of Socio-Ecological
Integrity in Traditional Cultural Landscapes in Indian Himalaya.
Chapter
7.
Innovating Products Towards Conservation of the Ifugao Rice Terraces in the
Philippines.
Chapter
8. A Culture-Based Social Enterprise That Enhances Soil
and Agro-Biodiversity in Guesang, Bangaan, Sagada, Mountain Province,
Philippines.
Chapter
9. The Practice of SEPL Based on Weaving-Derived
Cultural Business Mechanisms A Case Study of an Indigenous Settlement in
Central Taiwan.
Chapter
10. Protecting the Rights and Livelihoods of Local
Communities in the Face of Agro-Industrial Development to Conserve
Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes (SEPLs): The Experience of Green
Development Advocates (GDA) in Campo-Cameroon.
Chapter
11. Participatory
Sustainable Production of Panela (Brown Sugarcane) and the Conservation of
Tropical Dry and Very Dry (Subxerophytic) Forest in Colombia.
Chapter
12.
From Seed to Table: A Business Case Study on Promoting a Sustainable
Agri-Food System in East China.
Chapter
13. Socio-Ecological and
Socio-Economic Assessment of Complex Rice Systems: A Case Study in Lamongan
District, Indonesia.
Chapter
14. Synthesis: Business and Biodiversity in the
Context of Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS).
Dr. Maiko Nishi is a Research Fellow of United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), engaging in research and capacity development for the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI). Her area of research interest includes social-ecological system governance, local and regional planning, agricultural land policy, landscape stewardship, and biocultural diversity. In particular, her interest lies in multi-level governance, land tenure and use, and subjectivities of institutional actors in governing natural resources. She began her career as a consultant in urban planning and experienced projects related to participatory planning, rural water supply and regional development. She currently serves as a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) thematic assessment on transformative change.
Dr. Suneetha M. Subramanian is currently a Research fellow with United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). She has more than 15 years of experience in international and sub-national research and capacity building activities relating to biodiversity and human well-being focusing on equity, traditional knowledge, linking policy goals to local priorities and community well-being, and socio-ecological resilience. She has been involved in various assessments of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) including Regional, Global and Values Assessments as Lead and Co-ordinating Lead Authors.
Dr. Philip Varghese is a postdoctoral researcher at Akita International University and United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). He earned his M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in India (2010-2017), and holds Masters and Bachelors degree in Political Science from Madras Christian College, Chennai, and St. Stephens College, Delhi, respectively. In 2015, he was awarded a doctoral research fellowship by the Indian Council of Social Science Research. His doctoral research explored the political and environmental impacts of tourism development in Wayanad, India. From 2021 to 2022, he was the co-investigator in a collaborative research project supported by Hanns Seidel Stiftung, India, which studied 'Indias Neighbourhood Policy Towards the Southeast Asia Region: A Study on the Act East Policy'. He has five years of experience teaching at the university level and three years of experience in the non-governmental sector as a research and policy advocacy officer. His current research interests include tourism and development politics, biodiversity, indigenous communities, and sustainability. His work has been published in esteemed journals such as Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism and The Theory and Practice of Legislation.
