Global value chains are contributing to climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution around the world, as ecosystems are exploited to produce commodities for distant consumers. 70 % of Switzerland’s ecological footprint originates abroad, for example. There is a growing consensus on the need for governance approaches that account for these transnational economic links and support people in producer countries who are fighting to protect their local environment.
Potential for impact
In our interconnected world, locally led nature-based solutions – for example those driven by Indigenous communities in Latin America and the Caribbean – can significantly contribute to global sustainability transformations. But they must expand their reach and effectiveness to be successful.
Today, a variety of communities and individuals are championing human rights and nature-based solutions to preserve local biodiversity and well-being. Acting alone or in concert, these “biosphere defenders” frequently draw on alternative (e.g. Indigenous) knowledge systems, sustainability science, and legal principles in a peaceful struggle to raise awareness and put pressure on decision-makers. The DEFEND-BIO project examines the needs and challenges surrounding these promising agents of change and explores their role in law – including law in books, living law, and law in action. The project also investigates whether existing laws and regulations facilitate or frustrate biosphere defenders’ initiatives for integrated responses to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystems.
International, multidisciplinary cooperation
DEFEND-BIO encompasses a team from Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, bringing together interdisciplinary expertise in law, politics, development, human geography, and trade. Focusing on Latin America and the Caribbean – and their relations with Europe – the DEFEND-BIO project identifies opportunities and challenges in legislative and policy frameworks while contributing to implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and international human rights treaties in our interconnected world.
The role of CDE
The CDE team specifically explores the potential of biosphere defenders to advance nature-based solutions in the context of EU and Swiss regulations on transnational supply chains and sustainable finance. On the one hand, the team analyses whether and how key actors in Europe and Switzerland draw on the knowledge of biosphere defenders when implementing supply chain governance and sustainable finance regulations. On the other, they examine whether biosphere defenders – especially from Latin America and the Caribbean – can make use of these regulations on behalf of nature stewardship and climate adaptation.
Key questions and objectives
Key research questions include:
- How do biosphere defenders employ inter- and transnational law and policy to protect their right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment and advance nature-based solutions?
- What role can they play in extending nature-based solutions in the context of transnational supply chain governance and sustainable finance regulation?
- How can their role be strengthened and feedback loops improved?
Project objectives:
- Empowering biosphere defenders with legal tools and strategies to advance environmental human rights.
- Creating enabling environments for defenders to scale out locally led nature-based solutions and scale up impacts at regional and global levels to support environmental democracy, human rights, and sustainability transformations.
- By supporting the strategies of biosphere defenders and creating an environment that empowers – and protects – their work, DEFEND-BIO ultimately aims to foster sustainability transformations for present and future generations to thrive.
