Biodiversity is in a desolate state. In their first report released in May 2019, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) finds that biodiversity is declining at rates faster than at any time in human history, threatening ecosystem functions critical to human survival and wellbeing. While the report is novel in terms of its scope and multilateral backing, the overall trends were long known, yet largely outside of the awareness of society. That’s why, in autumn 2018, foraus set out to crowdsource innovative ideas on how to tackle the biodiversity crisis through a newly developed online policy innovation tool: Policy Kitchen. Together with experts, foraus defined three challenges with a link to foreign policy, in which action is particularly needed: How to square biodiversity conservation and economic development? How to make trade more biodiversity-friendly? And how to improve global governance around biodiversity conservation? foraus discussed these questions with over 100 participants from various backgrounds. The process resulted in 43 ideas on biodiversity conservation, four of which were developed further and are presented in this publication.
