This report commences by providing a background to one of today’s most important global challenges – the rapid loss of biodiversity – before discussing the role of development actors in general and donors, such as Sida, in protecting biodiversity. The report then formulates three questions that focus on the potential role of development actors in supporting or fostering the transformation needed to reach not only biodiversity objectives, but the Sustainable Development Goals in general. These questions were the departure point for a roundtable discussion with leading international experts convened by the Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA). The main conclusions from the roundtable discussion are presented in the second part of this working paper.
The author describes the significant body of work developed by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and other actors. Both the background section and the roundtable summary provide a discussion on some of the more important choices that face Sweden as a donor. EBA hopes that this working paper will provide helpful insights for efforts to develop an overarching theory of change on how to support the protection of biodiversity.