Rethinking conservation in an era of crisis (commentary)

The interlinked planetary crises of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss are losing significant ground in the global political agenda. From the ground, it seems as though even environmental discourse and momentum are weakening, as urgent geopolitical and economic priorities push concrete action to the margins. Overseas development aid and conservation finance is shrinking, often creating conflict between actors, and the North–South divide is widening. Conflicts, shifting power balances, and unsustainable development models in megadiverse countries continue to erode ecosystems at alarming speed. Efforts to construct market mechanisms for biodiversity, such as access and benefit-sharing (ABS) under the Convention on Biological Diversity, have largely failed to deliver. After thre