ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in preceding chapters of this book. The book offers constructive proposals on how biodiversity conservation may be incorporated more meaningfully into the current Green Economy discourse. Biodiversity, apart from its multifaceted contribution to economic systems and human well-being, can also directly contribute to important aspects of the Green Economy by reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and enhancing ecosystem resilience. The book explores social and political processes and institutional settings that will allow to reach widely acceptable decisions about the green economic trade-offs. It provides several examples of how areas/landscapes not formally protected (but often rich in biodiversity) host a number of economically important activities that, one way or another, depend on biodiversity. Biodiversity conservation efforts have traditionally focused on protected areas. However, only a small fraction of terrestrial ecosystems and marine ecosystems are formally protected.
