In the name of biodiversity “conservation” and “protection”, the corporate sector is increasingly making calls for the financialisation of nature. The financialization of nature continues the harmful legacy of bio-imperialism. These mechanisms, which include schemes like biodiversity credits and Nature Asset Companies (NACs), represent the latest attempt to extend the old colonial bio-imperialism under the veneer of environmentalism. They aim to commodify entire ecosystems and all ecological functions of nature, particularly in biodiversity-rich territories that are often the ancestral lands of indigenous peoples or small farmer communities.
This financialisation of nature is not a solution but a continuation of the historical exploitation, commodification and extraction of natural resources which are part of a broader paradigm of conquest and extraction. It does not disrupt and challenge the status quo and socio-ecological-political imbalances and injustices in the world.
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Biodiversity is Life – Not an Asset Class
One of the false solutions that this report dives deep into is biodiversity credits. These represent a scheme which finances biodiversity actions through the creation, sale and exchange of biodiversity ‘units’. This report debunks five major false narratives around biodiversity credits that offer false solutions to false problems.
The first false narrative is that “Biodiversity credits will protect biodiversity”. Biodiversity credits are driven by the sole aim of generating profits, not creating meaningful action that disrupts the status quo responsible for the biodiversity loss in the world. It will not protect biodiversity.
The second false narrative is that “Biodiversity credits are not offsets”. Both credits and offsets are identical and the only difference is use. Green Finance Observatory points out that “there is no credible use for biodiversity credits outside of offsetting”.
The third false narrative at the foundation of financialisation of nature is that “Market mechanisms have superior outcomes over traditional regulation”. Markets have not protected biodiversity. Today, 80% of the world’s biodiversity resides in the 22% of land that is stewarded by Indigenous people. Their economies of care have outperformed economies of greed and markets, which have promoted deforestation, monocultures, and biodiversity loss.
The fourth false narrative is that “Biodiversity credits will generate additional incomes for local populations”. These schemes, instead of generating more livelihood will actually lead to more land grabbing [lxvii], more human rights violations and increasingly volatile farmer incomes.
The fifth false narrative perpetrated by the private sector/financial markets is that “only financialisation will save biodiversity”. This is a colonial sleight of hand which erases the far more superior and effective realities, legacies and lineages of small farmers, women, indigenous peoples and multiple cultures protecting and stewarding biodiversity and the complex web of life encompassed in their local ecosystems. It is crucial to dismantle the assumption that the only way forward is through the very mechanisms that have historically plundered and commodified nature.
To genuinely address the biodiversity crisis, we must fundamentally transform our relationship with the Earth and its diverse life forms. Regenerating biodiversity is not merely a matter of “conservation”. It’s about rekindling our intrinsic connection with the Earth, producing food in harmony with nature, and nurturing the ecosystems that sustain life. This is the path of bio-democracy. To truly preserve and regenerate biodiversity, we must see the recentering of economies to be local, circular, and regenerative, in line with ecological rhythms and boundaries that support these symbiotic relationships.
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Just as we need biodiversity to sustain healthy ecosystem functions, and just as there is a vast amount of different landscapes, ecologies, species and species arrangements we need a diversity of ways to tend to them. It is necessary to preserve the communities that allow biodiversity to flourish by recognising and supporting these stewards and cultures that have long existed on this Earth in peace. Women and farmers keep systems of biodiversity alive. Indigenous knowledge systems arise out of a deep and long understanding of the ecological principles of Nature’s Law and ecological sustainability. They have preserved and ensured healthy living systems and their peoples’ survival down through the ages.
The defense of biodiversity is now more important than ever, as it represents the defense of our relationship to life itself.