Biosphere defenders leveraging legal and governance tools for just sustainability transformations (DEFEND-BIO)

DEFEND-BIO’s scientific objective is two-fold: a) generate novel understanding of how biosphere defenders as agents of change in nature-based solutions (NBS) and the just and effective implementation of law and policy trigger integrated responses to biodiversity stewardship and human well-being and b) analyse how Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) and European law and policy actors can support actions by biosphere defenders on NBS for just sustainability transformations.Our hypothesis is that by supporting biosphere defenders’ strategies and creating enabling environments for their actions, LAC and European legal and policy actors can foster processes towards just sustainability transformations and biodiversity stewardship for present and future generations.DEFEND-BIO’s main research question is:  How can biosphere defenders as agents of change in NBS further catalyse the transnational implementation of law and policy for just sustainability transformations and biodiversity stewardship?Sweden specifically RWI leads Work Package (WP) 1, the interdisciplinary backbone, coordination and synthesis; and WP2 on biosphere defenders´ use of international and regional law and policy in LAC and the diversity of ways in which law supports or could support biosphere defenders’ actions on NBS.

Lund University leads WP5 on the use of national and global laws and policies for territorial defense and ecosystem protection at the local level and through living law in Colombia and Ecuador.