Transformative Biodiversity Policy at a Stalemate
Consensus on ‘Age Old’ Problems, Coherent Pathway Forward Needed
This study updates our research that shows how governments—highly constrained by financial and political conditions to implement a just ecological transition—are “Exporting Extinction.”
The briefing reports back from focus group discussions with engaged biodiversity policy-makers and advocates on the findings of the Exporting Extinction report. Bringing together key actors from different sets of expertise and institutional bases, we found that:
- Participants expressed a clear appetite for structural approaches to changing the political-economic “rules of the game,” namely international financial architecture reforms such as debt and tax justice, as well as trade and investment agreement reforms.
- Despite this consensus, there was far from a shared theory of change or strategy for advancing structural change.
The report characterizes the current moment as a stalemate—strategically stagnant but also loaded with opportunities.
In a moment of fast-changing geopolitical economic dynamics and uncertainties, pathways for intervention are emerging around the international financial architecture and beyond. But they require more organization, coordination, and focus if those changes are to be in line with diverse ecosystems and the realization of land, Indigenous, and human rights.
