4 innovators helping to protect biodiversity

"Humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction," the head of the United Nations (UN), Antonio Guterres, warned in December 2022 at the start of the COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal.

Policymakers took heed as the Earth entered its sixth “mass extinction event” facing the loss of over 1 million species within decades, by signing a landmark agreement to protect one third of the planet for nature by 2030.

The UN defines biodiversity as the variety of life and the interactions between living things at all levels on land, in water and in the sea and air – genes, populations, species and ecosystems. Terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems – for example forests, grasslands, wetlands, mangrove swamps and the oceans – provide us with services essential for human well-being such as food, medicines and energy.

What separates this extinction event from the previous five, is that it is man-made, the endangerment of animals, ocean life and rainforests coming after more than two centuries of rapid industrialization, the London School of Economics points out in a recent article.

It describes the reasons for the biodiversity crisis as “strongly linked to a narrow focus on the materialistic values of nature in business and politics”, citing the results of a Values Assessment report by the International Panel for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

“This favours short-term profit and individual material gain over humanity’s other values for nature, including relationships with the natural world based on respect, reciprocity and sacredness, which are common to many indigenous cultures,” the LSE adds.

The situation has led to pollution, habitat loss, climate change, overhunting, overfishing and a spread of disease threatening wildlife and humans.

But entrepreneurs and innovators around the world are finding solutions to help boost and protect biodiversity. Here are four such developments which all feature on the World Economic Forum’s UpLink platform.

Founded by Finnish marine biologist Sari Tolvanen, Ocean Eye is a data collection and financial transfer platform that collects tourist wildlife sighting data and charges a small fee. The animal sighting reports – such as a rare shark or turtle – are directly linked to micro payments from tourists that go to coastal communities. The communities can then invest the money on education, healthcare or conservation.

For example, 1kg of shark fins is expected to gain $600, but the value of seeing the same shark thousands of times in its lifetime far outweighs the one-time payment, Ocean Eye says. Its data and research show the concept can turn hunters of wildlife into conservation allies, restoring local biodiversity and ecosystems.

The Natural History Consortium is a Bristol, UK-based charitable collaboration of 14 organizations working “to develop, test and disseminate best practice to engage everyone with the environment and natural world”.

The partners organize conferences as well as the Festival of Nature, an ongoing programme of community science activities and volunteering opportunities to record local wildlife.

By seeking out and recording local wildlife, participants not only feel better connected to their environment and learn about the creatures that inhabit it, but they also contribute data to local databases informing conservation efforts and management.

Wipsea is a Rennes, France-based software company that works with scientists and businesses like offshore wind farms to automate the counting of endangered animal species.

Traditionally, mapping involves people hovering in planes to spot what they can, but this is not always accurate and costly.

Founded in 2013, the company uses high-resolution images shot by plane or drone and then deploys algorithms to identify marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles and recreational activities in the thousands of photos collected.

Spain’s Institute of Marine Sciences is backing the Minka ‘Seatizens’ project that helps volunteers monitor and protect biodiversity on urban coastal ecosystems, such as the beaches of Barcelona.

Cities concentrate most of the world’s population. Coastal cities in particular have a major impact on land‐ocean ecosystems and climates and are among the least resilient environments.

Thanks to the Minka Seatizens, the Biodiversity Atlas of the Barcelona City Council has a fuller picture of the diversity of hundreds of fish species in the waters around Barcelona, including some invasive ones, such as the Sorella del Sud.

They also identified protected species such as the seahorses Hippocampus hippocampus and H. guttulatus, as well as the kingfisher, the grouper and the edible Tallahams, which is highly appreciated gastronomically.