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Biodiversity

[Translate to English:] © plainpicture / Markus Keller

© plainpicture / Markus Keller

Biological diversity (biodiversity) refers to the wealth of living organisms on our planet. It includes the entire spectrum of natural habitats or ecosystems worldwide, which are vital for human life and survival, prosperity and wellbeing. However, humankind itself is the cause of massive species extinction in the world’s rainforests and oceans, on farmland and in the air. The degradation of natural and agricultural ecosystems is accompanied by a loss of ecosystem services. These are the nature-based services from which we humans benefit: clean air and water, food and firewood, flood protection and climate regulation.

The conservation of biodiversity, the legal frameworks required for this purpose and the role played by civil society organisations and individual consumption all form part of the Oeko-Institut’s research and consultancy in this area. Its researchers therefore focus on policy strategies and instruments that can be used to conserve biodiversity and maintain ecosystem services. They also seek to identify agriculture’s potential contributions to biodiversity conservation and explore issues around land use competition.

Overview

News

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Publications

Infographics

  • Coastal Ecosystems: Blue Carbon Storage

    Image 05/29/2024
    Seagrass meadows, mangrove forests and salt marshes can absorb and store up to 216 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere worldwide every year. Over centuries to millennia, they form an enormous carbon store of up to 22,000 million tons of carbon in marine sediment. At the same time, they make an important contribution to the preservation of biodiversity in the oceans and on the coasts, help to protect against storm surges and coastal protection and thus contribute to the nutrition and safety of millions of people. This is shown in a research report by the Öko-Institut and the Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Research commissioned by the German Environment Agency, which examines the importance of coastal ecosystems for global climate protection.
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  • Nature-based Solutions

    Nature-based Solutions

    Image 01/21/2022
    Nature-based Solutions are locally appropriate, adaptive actions to protect, sustainably manage or restore natural or modified ecosystems in order to address targeted societal challenge(s) - such as climate change mitigation -, while simultaneously enhancing human well-being and providing biodiversity benefits.
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