Thesis title: How will halting biodiversity loss affect the achievement of other Sustainable Development Goals?
Summary
Global biodiversity is experiencing a steep decline caused by anthropogenic activities. By
losing biodiversity, humanity loses one of the most extraordinary features of life on earth.
However, worsening biodiversity trends also have effects beyond the natural world, since
human well-being is highly dependent on outputs and processes that emerge from the
interaction between different biodiversity components, known as Ecosystem Services. The
interactions that determine how biodiversity loss affects ecosystem services provision are
complex and not completely understood, while the positive effects of biodiversity in human
well-being are poorly acknowledged, especially beyond the scientific community. As a result
of recognising that humans are transforming the planet in ways that could undermine
development, the Sustainable Development Goals emerged as a global agreement. It set a
plan of action towards prosperity for people and the planet through sustainable development,
a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future
generations.
For the goals to become a real path of development they have to be advanced as a whole.
Among the SDGs, earth precondition goals have been defined as a prerequisite for a thriving
global society because they represent the earth's life-support systems on which the welfare of
current and future generations depends. Therefore, understanding how biodiversity underpins
human wellbeing, and implementing effective ways to integrate these positive values into
policy decision-making that protects nature is key for the successful achievement of nature
related targets.
While biodiversity loss is expected to worsen because of extrinsic threats including climate
and land use change, scenarios are a common tool to produce future trends of biodiversity
loss. Less common scenario applications can also elucidate the effects of losing biodiversity
5in ecosystem services with a straightforward message able to influence policy-making. In this
regard, I set three objectives for my thesis that could advance the recognition and
applicability of the role of biodiversity in sustainable development. These objectives are:
1. Communicate to a non-expert audience positive feedback between biodiversity and
well-functioning ecosystems as a key concept that underpins a long-term supply of
ecosystem services on which global food systems and food security stand.
2. Identify the challenges and opportunities for the integration of the Common Agricultural
Policy into the EU Green deal framework along three axes: protection of biodiversity,
climate change mitigation and adaptation, and sustainable management of natural
resources.
3. Explore synergies between conservation of biodiversity and the production of socio-
economic important crops, using future global change scenarios to evaluate the effect of
different socio-economic pathways in the future habitat suitability of cacao pollinators
and explore this effect in future crop production.
The first introductory chapter is a literature review materialised into a literature database that
exemplifies local and regional initiatives that demonstrate synergies between three levels of
biodiversity, genes, species and ecosystems, and its benefits to each of the Sustainable
Development Goals. The Biodiversity Contributions to people are proposed on the basis of
four types of contribution to production processes or the maintenance of natural processes
with biodiversity as a physical input, an enabling factor, a mitigation or a protection agent. I
found that biodiversity exerts a positive influence in all the development goals analysed. A
major number of positive interactions were associated with SDG 2 (Zero hunger), SDG 3
(Good health and well-being), and SDG 11 (Sustainable cities and communities).
6Based on the knowledge acquired in the first chapter, the second chapter explored in detail
the relation between mammal species, their functions in ecosystems and their benefits to food
production. Using a language accessible to non-biodiversity experts, I discussed the
implications that the loss of mammal species would have in food security worldwide. I found
that mammal diversity is particularly important for rural and indigenous communities whose
diets are highly dependent on resources provided directly by mammal diversity and enhanced
when abundant populations are protected. However, mammal importance extends to
agricultural systems all over the world where the functional role of top predators, ecosystem
engineers, terrestrial seed dispersers, pollinators, among others have been proven to have a
direct effect on food production. The positive synergy between mammal diversity and the
mitigation climate was a context element jointly explored. Based on a review of proven good
practices in agricultural landscapes, I proposed the enhancement of five policy areas that
could make agricultural production align with biodiversity conservation on a regional and
local basis.
In the third chapter, following the knowledge gained in the previous chapters, and with the
aim to identify the challenges and opportunities that policies that protect biodiversity have to
be integrated in agricultural policies, I evaluated pathways of integration between two
regional policies within the European Union. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and
the European Green Deal. The Green Deal is an ambitious set of policies to guide the EU
towards climate neutrality and restoration of natural ecosystems by 2050, while the CAP is
the major European instrument for agricultural planning. I found that the environmental
practices rewarded by the CAP lack appropriate landscape planning measures, worsening the
risk to biodiversity and ecosystem services driven by landscape and biotic homogenization.
Funding allocation mechanisms are not tailored to mitigate agricultural emissions, decreasing
the efficiency of climate mitigation actions, and the legislation subsidises farms making
7extensive use of synthetic inputs without adequately supporting sustainable alternatives such
as organic production. I recommended proper control mechanisms including a revision of
funds’ assignment criteria to grant proportionally adequate resources for each CAP objective,
quantitative targets to guide interventions, and clear performance indicators to assess
environmental benefits.
In the fourth chapter, I run global scenarios of climate and land use change to understand the
effects that different development pathways will have on wild pollinators of cacao. Cacao
production is highly dependent on wild pollination with 90% of its production being lost in
the absence of pollinators. However knowledge on the pollinator species and its ecological
requirements is scarce and sparse, making it difficult to adopt and implement favourable
agricultural practices. My objective was to advance the knowledge on cacao pollinator
species, their ecological features and geographical distribution to understand their
susceptibility to global change under three contrasting socio-economic scenarios between
2015 and 2050. I found that habitat suitability of pollinators declined globally in two out of
three scenarios, being the “sustainability” scenario the only one in which an increment in
suitability could be expected. Asia is the most vulnerable region, experiencing large losses in
habitat suitability in all main producing countries under all scenarios, while American and
African countries could maintain their production areas under a sustainable development
scenario. Climate change adaptation will be necessary in most major producing countries.
The study presents the first global assessment of climate and land-cover change impacts on
pollinators of cacao.
I hope that the results of this thesis advance the knowledge, and recognition of the role of
biodiversity in agricultural systems. Since agricultural production is a key driver of
biodiversity loss, finding mechanisms that protect and maintain biodiversity among working
landscapes is essential for the conservation of many species, in turn making agriculture
8landscapes more productive and resilient. The use of biodiversity as an underpinning element
of ecosystem services represents an opportunity to adopt production practices that enhance
both biodiversity and agricultural outputs at the same time. The adoption of proven beneficial
practices for biodiversity in agricultural landscapes is limited to the acknowledgement of
biodiversity benefits, but also to the development of facilitating mechanisms that allow for
their applicability at local and regional scales. Making knowledge accessible to policy makers
and finding pathways for the integration of biodiversity in development policies and business
strategies can improve the chances of halting biodiversity loss and meeting the objectives of
the SDG agenda.