BEYOND ENERGY

5.2 Biodiversity loss: Transfer

The generic framework for assessing sustainability impacts can also be applied to biodiversity loss.

So far in this course, you have used the framework of sustainability assessment to evaluate what a promising and sustainable energy system might look like. But the question of how an energy system could develop sustainably is only one aspect of the desirable futures we are talking about here. The conservation of biodiversity is an equally important issue.

The generic framework can be adapted to the issue at hand. In this video, Patricia Holm applies it to describe strategies for minimising biodiversity loss. It turns out that the various dimensions of the system generally remain the same. However, we need to specify or adjust some aspects.

Patricia Holm uses the following two schemes in the video. Have a closer look at them here:

^{Scheme 1: The generic coupled human-nature system applied to the challenge of biodiversity loss. © Author’s own design; adapted by the New Media Center.}

^{Scheme 2: The generic coupled human-nature system applied to the challenge of biodiversity loss, with an added set of goals. © Author’s own design; adapted by the New Media Center.}

Author: Patricia Holm

5.2

Biodiversity loss: Transfer

Further reading