Biodiversity Conservation
Conserving biodiversity, maintaining ecosystem services, and sustainably managing natural resources are fundamental to sustainable development. Biodiversity and healthy ecosystems strengthen our resilience to address environmental and social changes and shocks, including climate change impacts and disaster risks. ACRES seeks to maintain and enhance the goods and services provided by biodiversity and ecosystems in order to secure livelihoods, food, water and health, enhance resilience, conserve threatened species and their habitats, and increase carbon storage and sequestration. ACRES is committed to integrating biodiversity and ecosystem management into development planning and production sector activities, strengthening protected areas systems, and managing and rehabilitating ecosystems for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. ACRES seeks to strengthen effective governance and decision-making systems affecting biodiversity and ecosystems, including strengthening the rights of affected populations including women, indigenous peoples and local communities to sustainable use of resources. This Standard reflects the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity — including the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of genetic resources—and other international conventions and agreements. ACRES promotes an ecosystem approach to biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of natural resources.
