Box 2: Building Consensus About Biodiversity Values

Box 2: Building Consensus About Biodiversity Values

To implement a successful biodiversity action plan, it is necessary to build consensus about biodiversity values across multiple institutions and stakeholders, in other words, seek the cooperation and validity among all participants.

In order to gain this cooperation with stakeholders and to place biodiversity on the agenda, a range of communication, education and awareness interventions are needed. This involves networking, and establishing working relationships, defining common goals, influencing decision making processes, negotiating outcomes, strengthening capacities, updating knowledge and ensuring effective implementation.

Many stakeholders may have little or no understanding of biodiversity or disregard scientifically prepared plans, policies and existing mechanisms (e.g. for sustainable use, quarantine procedures, EIA procedures, etc.) due to a lack of awareness of their importance and the serious implications of overlooking them as to how they can foster economic development and help alleviate poverty.

Achieving consensus will not be easy but can be done by the following considerations:

Listen first

It may be counter productive to launch into trying to “educate” all the stakeholders. It is more effective to ‘listen’ to these stakeholders and explore opportunities where common ground can be found and provide ways for stakeholders to find motives and reasons to change their policies and practices in a more environmentally friendly way. Often these motives and reasons have little to do with knowledge of biodiversity.

Get help from opinion leaders

Not all members of a stakeholder group are the same. It is therefore important to identify the opinion leaders in each group to contact them and involve them in planning the means for stakeholder engagement and long-term involvement.

Networking and informal communication are effective ways of identifying opinion leaders. This requires face to face contact and establishment of trust. Opinion leaders may not be experts in biodiversity, but their views and beliefs should be treated with the utmost respect.

Step 9: Communicate Results and Engage the Community

It is very important to highlight that without drawing a baseline of where the city started (Step 1 Profile of the City), it is not possible to demonstrate the biodiversity improvement and achievements of the municipality. Impact measurement and indicators are essential data-gathering steps for building the success story.

The focus should be on positive stories that engage the community and inspire new ideas at round tables. Connecting with influential opinion leaders and media is a key success factor.

Storytelling is a key component for the success and future Budget approvals on Biodiversity Action Plans. These plans should be thought and implemented long-term, and storytelling becomes a key ingredient in ensuring that the importance of biodiversity is never understated, regardless of the change in municipal government mandates.

Suggestions for developing a biodiversity message are provided in Box 3.

Step 10: Measure Positive Impacts in the Long Run

Biodiversity is an integral part of ecological, economic, and social resilience and sustainability in a city. The variety of living organisms in a community provide various services such as clean air, safe drinking water, provision of genetic resources, waste treatment and protection from climate change effects, to name a few. Identification, management, and promotion of biodiversity assets will enhance municipal operations, community livability, and economic development. Missed opportunities will decrease community resilience and increase societal risk by increasing vulnerabilities to human health, the environment, and the economy.

Measurement of the success of biodiversity initiatives, and the indicators for doing so, must be carefully done to show lasting and positive impacts over the long term. This is the only way that biodiversity values will be truly recognized.

Suggestions for focussing long term policy efforts are as follows:

§ Stimulating and funding implementation of Green Infrastructure, § Creating “Green Jobs”. § Building resilient cities in the face of climate change. § Protecting and enhancing biodiversity and demonstrating its many values to urban residents.

Most municipal and national governments in Latin America often fail to implement long term action plans, because of their short “4-year” mandates. Biodiversity action plans should be approached as fundamental investments for the future and survival of cities and timelines should transcend the limitations of institutional change.