BILAT23084 - Desarrollo de un nuevo proxy biótico del

Biodiversity conservation is at a crossroads. On one hand, the need to protect biodiversity is clearly acknowledged and present in the agenda of most countries. On the other hand, the competing interests within biodiversity conservation and in contraposition to economic growth threaten the adoption of meaningful targets at national and international levels. In this battle, “ecosystem services” have emerged as a boundary concept appealing to different sectors because it merges economic benefits from biodiversity with the protection of species and populations. Using ecosystem services arguments, international initiatives are developing to e.g. increase carbon sequestration by planting trees, or ensuring food security by protecting pollinators in agroecosystems. However, these well-intentioned initiatives risk missing the larger opportunity to help the most needed biodiversity. First, because ecosystem service-providing species are often those of less conservation need, and conserving rare and threatened species may even conflict with productivist arguments. Second, because at a larger scale, these independent initiatives trade-off with their goals and conflict in their direct implementation. e.g. Pollinators often require diverse habitats including grasslands and shrublands, and do not thrive in the closed monoculture forests often prompted for carbon sequestration. This project aims to gather forest ecologists, pollinator ecologists, and agronomists, who are experts in conservation and ecosystem services to synthesize the current international diversity conservation efforts and analyze how they can trade-off. Importantly, the aim is to revisit the validity of the productivist ecosystem services argument and propose a more holistic narrative that prepares policymakers to choose and prioritize when win-win situations are not possible. This project is framed into conservation ecology, with clear links to the topics “food” and clear language as a facilitator of the links between science, technology and innovation in order to better communicate to society and effectively inform government bodies for decision-making and improvement of procedures.