Are We Neglecting Biodiversity in the Circular Economy?

COP 16 has just ended, but what does it represent? Signed by 150 government leaders at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the Convention on Biological Diversity is dedicated to promoting sustainable development. Conceived as a practical tool for translating the principles of Agenda 21 (Agenda 21 is a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development) into reality, the Convention recognises that biological diversity is about more than plants, animals and microorganisms and their ecosystems – it is about people and our need for food security, medicines, fresh air water, shelter, and a clean and healthy environment in which to live.

So where does the circular economy fit into the conservation of biological diversity? The potential of the circular economy is, in theory, significant: circular interventions in the food and agriculture, construction, textiles and forest sectors can halt biodiversity loss even if no other action is taken.

Progress toward biodiversity targets is inextricably linked to changes in consumption and production. Through their global value chains, the negative biodiversity impact of multinational corporation operations extends far and wide across these systems. The World Bank estimates that 90% of total biodiversity loss can be associated with the management of resources within consumption and production systems.

Strategies for circularity include:

• Narrowing?resource loops by reducing resource intensity and optimizing resources. For example, the smartphone replaced cameras, phones, calculators, game consoles, and even computers.
• Slowing?resource loops through prolonging and intensifying product use. For example, products like computers and electronic appliances could be designed to be more durable for longer use.
• Closing?resource loops by replacing virgin materials with reuse, recycling, remanufacturing, and resource cascading. For example, computer and copier components could be reused within modular systems.
• Regenerating/restoring?resources by preserving and enhancing natural capital. Renewable energy systems are a good example.

“It is possible to halt biodiversity loss, but it requires significant changes in how we produce, consume and manage products and materials. The circular economy offers solutions, and the best thing is that these solutions are ready to be used,” says Kari Herlevi, Project Director at Sitra.

Moving Beyond Product-Use-Cycle Extension

Maintaining the value of products, materials and other resources in the economy for as long as possible, enhancing their efficient use in production and consumption, and returning them to the product cycle at the end of their life, circular economy measures reduce the need for resource extraction and reduce waste, which can help lessen the current rate of biodiversity loss. These two principles are commonly covered when discussing circular economy measures and strategies.

However, to further enhance the positive impact of the circular economy and not only reduce but also reverse biodiversity loss, more attention needs to be devoted to biodiversity-friendly sourcing efforts. This entails reducing harm to nature but also, importantly, adopting regenerative production practices in, for example, agriculture, aquaculture and forestry, including nutrient retention, soil conservation, water management and sustainable pest management.

The positive impacts that the circular economy can have on biodiversity (and climate change) should not be taken for granted but need to become a central part of designing and implementing circular economy actions. How resources are sourced and cultivated needs to be added to the traditional hierarchy of ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’. This entails bridging links between how we make use of materials in our economy and how we produce and source them in the first place. Eco-design has come up as a crucial ‘circular touchpoint’ for both enhancing the circularity of products and ensuring that the resources used to make the products come from biodiversity-friendly supply chains.

In the building and construction sector, circular economy actions that improve material efficiency (e.g., replacing clinker with other binders), optimise material use (e.g., not making oversized structures) and reuse (e.g., reusing concrete elements and metal structures) have good potential for biodiversity impact reduction. All these actions reduce the demand for virgin raw materials by making more from less. Additionally, the construction sector has a clear potential to increase the use of these inner-cycle circular economy actions. In particular, improving the reuse of wood materials, i.e., cascading use, has a significant positive impact on biodiversity because it is a highly underutilised circular economy action with good potential to decrease the forest industry’s land use and biodiversity impacts.

Conclusion

Linear economic systems have negative impacts on the environment which threaten human and non-human life on earth in ever more pressing ways. Biodiversity is critical to 'biosphere integrity', which is a 'core planet boundary' that currently exceeds the 'safe operating space for humanity' as an intrinsic biophysical process that regulates the stability of the Earth system. Therefore, developing an economic model which permits society to operate within the boundaries of the planet and takes into account biophysical limitations is critical.

Consistent with the fundamental concepts that precede and underlie the circular economy model, it is presented as an opportunity to meet resource needs in an era when global demand is increasing and expected to double by 2050 and a linear economy can no longer support demand without significant and irreversible environmental impact. So far, the focus of the circular economy has been on rethinking technological and economic prosperity aspects of resource and energy waste circulation, with limited attention to other critical social and ecological components, including biodiversity declines.

Although components of the circular economy model have been applied in many regions and countries across the globe over the past 20?years, the sum of these efforts has been ‘paltry’ and ‘not shifted the behemoths of global industry’. The results that have been achieved accrue to the central objectives of the circular economy model aimed at resource and energy conservation. Arguably, its influence in addressing its more tangential list of challenges, such as biodiversity loss, is likely even more paltry.

We talk about systems thinking and systems change but for some reason, we are not including our commitments to biodiversity. Perhaps this is the biggest change we should focus on...

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Ms Adrienna Zsakay is the Founder and CEO of Circular Economy Asia Inc., and this article represents her opinions on the circular economy. Circular World Pick of the Week is brought to you by Circular World? Media — a brand owned by Circular Economy Asia Inc.

For all the best content, join one of the fastest-growing circular economy groups on LinkedIn - Circular Economy Asia. Visit my website CircularEconomyAsia.org

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References

'The Convention on Biological Diversity' published by

Agenda 21 - Wikipedia

'The Biodiversity Blind Spot in the Circular Economy ' by Paul Dewick and Joseph Sarkis, published by ISS Insights, 28 April 2022

'The benefits to biodiversity of a strong circular economy ' published by the European Environment Agency, 12 Jun 2023 ~ last modified 01 Apr 2024.

'Exploring the potential of circular economy to mitigate pressures on biodiversity ' by Enni Ruokamo, Hannu Savolainen, Jyri Sepp?l?, Susanna Sironen, Milja R?is?nen, Ari-Pekka Auvinen, published in Global Environmental Change, January 2023.

'An urgent call for circular economy advocates to acknowledge its limitations in conserving biodiversity ' by Johanna Buchmann-Duck and Karen F. Beazley, published in Science in the Total Environment, July 2020.