Most people want wildlife to be conserved. We can see this in the widespread support for non-profit conservation organisations, the efforts of companies to be biodiversity responsible, the policies and regulations of governments, and commitments arising from multilateral processes. Once such international commitment is the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) launched under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Most importantly, the GBF does not advocate conservation for the sake wild species. Rather its mission also focuses on securing benefits for people from reversing biodiversity loss:
- To take urgent action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss to put nature on a path to recovery for the benefit of people and planet by conserving and sustainably using biodiversity…
The GBF goals address both wild species and people:
- The extinction rate and risk of all species are reduced tenfold, and the abundance of native wild species is increased to healthy and resilient levels…
- Biodiversity is sustainably used and managed and nature’s contributions to people… are valued, maintained, and enhanced…
Hence, the GBF connects the return of wildlife to returns for people from wildlife. To accomplish this, it calls for “urgent policy action… globally, regionally and nationally” and “transformative, innovative and transdisciplinary education.” In response, at the Vinson Centre, we are establishing an academic platform for wildlife enterprise and entrepreneurship. It will support of the policies, laws, regulations, and voluntary actions needed to return wildlife by generating returns to wildlife.
In addition, trends suggest that consumers are increasingly concerned and conscious of how their products are being sourced, and whether practices and value chains are sustainable and responsible. Voluntary standards and certification schemes are becoming more popular, global searches for sustainable goods have risen significantly, and businesses of all sizes are now reacting to these consumer demands. This presents the opportunity to be at the forefront of this movement towards sustainably sourced wild products through voluntary, liberalised market processes.
Wildlife Returns promotes a wider and deeper understanding of how private wildlife use rights, wildlife entrepreneurship and enterprise, and liberalised trade can both conserve wildlife and enhance human well-being.