Channelling Investment into Biodiversity Conservation: ABS and PES Schemes

The Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity has repeatedly expressed its resolve to promote the ‘business case for biodiversity’. This paper aims to clarify what is meant by the ‘business case for biodiversity’, what its current dimension, prospects and challenges are, and how it can be accommodated within the international legal regimes for the protection of biodiversity. The paper analyses the two specific mechanisms that are currently more debated in respect of their potential to function as effective marked-based incentives to enhance the safeguarding of biodiversity, namely Access and Benefit-Sharing Agreements, and Payments for Ecosystem Services. The differences in status, rationale, and scope of the two mechanisms are outlined.