A global synthesis reveals biodiversity-mediated benefits for crop production

Human land use threatens global biodiversity and compromises multiple ecosystem functions critical to food production. Whether crop yield-related ecosystem services can be maintained by a few dominant species or rely on high richness remains unclear. Using a global database from 89 studies (with 1475 locations), we partition the relative importance of species richness, abundance, and dominance for pollination; biological pest control; and final yields in the context of ongoing land-use change. Pollinator and enemy richness directly supported ecosystem services in addition to and independent of abundance and dominance. Up to 50% of the negative effects of landscape simplification on ecosystem services was due to richness losses of service-providing organisms, with negative consequences for crop yields. Maintaining the biodiversity of ecosystem service providers is therefore vital to sustain the flow of key agroecosystem benefits to society. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).

Nexus between providers and users of green finance: Case study of commercial banks in Mauritius

International audienceIn an era of rising concerns of global warming, combatting climate change has been become a priority on the international agenda. In order to achieve the 2-degree goal, green finance has a vital role to play. Mauritius, being a developing country is no exception to join the league and to promote the provision of green finance. Green finance is a financing instrument binding the green industries to the financial institutions with the objective to protect the environment. However, there has been scant literature on the development of green finance in developing countries. The chapter attempts to map the nexus between the provider of green finance by the commercial banks and the users of green finance in Mauritius while investigating their different green finance solutions proposed. Two surveys were administered to 200 individual customers and 50 businesses under the user’s category and to 15 banks in Mauritius as providers of green finance. The results show that green finance is still at its infancy stage with a low level of awareness and adoption of it. Providers are also ineffective in promoting it and it raises concerns over whether such finance is a priority for them. Individuals and businesses are interested in Green Finance as it fosters sustainable development; Green Finance also increases banks’ profits, enhances stakeholder engagement, and diversifies their product portfolio. The major barriers revealed by the study are lack of communication between banks and customers, inadequate enforcement and insufficient qualified staffs. Recommendations have been leveled at banks, Central Bank, and NGOs. A marketing mix has been designed to enhance the awareness and adoption of Green Finance