Date and time: 23rd May 2025, from 8.30am to 5pm
Site and address: Mercatori, Turku School of Economics, Rehtoripellonkatu 3, Turku, Finland
Co-hosted by: University of Turku School of Economics, Biodiversity Unit, Functional Foods Forum & Finland Futures Research Centre
BIODIFUL welcomes researchers to an international research workshop to discuss the connections between biodiversity and business. You are welcome to present early ideas, work in progress work, or fully developed or published papers. The abstract (length: 300-500 words) submission deadline is April 10th 2025. The abstract needs to include your name, affiliation and contact details; title; research question/aim; need for the research; methodology; theory; findings; and contribution. Paper acceptance decisions will be informed by late April.
In an interdisciplinary spirit, the workshop is co-hosted by the University of Turku’s School of Economics, Biodiversity Unit, Functional Foods Forum & Finland Futures Research Centre and the Strategic Research Council funded research project Biodiversity-Respectful Leadership (BIODIFUL, www.biodiful.fi). The workshop will be held onsite on the campus of University of Turku. An opportunity to join online to hybrid sessions will be organized.
The scientific committee consists of Professor Satu Teerikangas, Professor Ilari Sääksjärvi, Dr. Milla Unkila, Adjunct Professor Juulia Räikkönen, Assistant Professor Anne Quarshie, Dr. Sari Puustinen, and Professor Anu Hopia.
The organizing committee consists of Dr. Milla Unkila, Dr. Anu Veijalainen, Dr. Henna Rouhiainen, Dr. Saska Tuomasjukka, Dr. Sanna Ahvenharju, Mia Salo and Lumi Aalto-Setälä. For any queries, please contact Professor Satu Teerikangas (@utu.fi)
Call for abstracts
Paralleling the climate crisis and pollution, the viability of our planetary systems is threatened by biodiversity loss, i.e. the loss of species. Put simply, biodiversity refers to the variability of life, in all is manifestations (Chivian & Bernstein, 2008). The intertwined combination of biodiversity decline and climate change do not only represent an ecological disaster but, at heart, an existential crisis, and a crisis of humanity (Amel et al., 2017). Unless addressed, biodiversity loss threatens the health and viability of all kinds of ecosystems and civilization, including ours, in their present form. As one symptom of the biodiversity crisis, it has been estimated that up to a million species risk extinction within the next decades (IPBES, 2021).
The “pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth” (Diaz et al., 2019) is caused by direct drivers, such as changes in land and sea use, unsustainable direct exploitation of species, climate change, pollution, and invasive alien species, as well as indirect drivers, such as the rising global population, overconsumption, and asymmetric distribution of wealth. Put bluntly, our current way of life is destroying the natural ecosystems on which the wellbeing and mutual survival of all species depend.
Several important international reports on the reduction of biodiversity and its critical implications for the future of humanity have been published over the last few years. In 2019, a thorough global assessment of biodiversity was published by IPBES (The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) which reviewed 15,000+ scientific publications on the state, causes and implications of biodiversity decline and actions needed to change course. In 2021, the IPBES pandemics report emphasized that the underlying causes of pandemics are the same global environmental changes that drive biodiversity loss and climate change. In 2021, a joint report by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and IPBES emphasized that the goals of halting biodiversity loss and climate change are mutually supportive. Dasgupta (2021), in turn, outlined the role of the current economic system toward biodiversity decline. The importance of including the multiple values of nature in decision-making was stated by the 2022 IPBES value report. The 2023 Invasive alien species report emphasized the importance of the effective management of invasive alien species and their impacts on biodiversity and humans. Finally, the latest IPBES report (2024) highlighted the need for a system-wide and in-depth transformation, encompassing technological, economic and social factors and values.
Combined, these reports call for transformative change to halt biodiversity loss in the short-to-medium term, while shifting toward a nature-positive approach in the long term. This is a tall order, and calls for imminent action (Maes et al. 2013; Dasgupta, 2021). Despite tentative initial steps, such action remains largely amiss, be it as regards governance, business or individual consumers. In particular, there is a lack of appreciation of the connections between biodiversity and business.
The aim of the International workshop at the intersections of biodiversity and business is to spark the scholarly interest of the business and academic communities toward means of addressing the biodiversity crisis. As businesses and consumers accelerate biodiversity loss via overconsumption and profit-oriented paradigms, these actors are uniquely positioned to work towards developing solutions for the crisis. Yet, previous research on biodiversity has largely been led by natural scientists and ecological economists; it is time that also business researchers attend to the matter. Our workshop is primarily set at the interface of biodiversity and business research, recognizing and also giving space to related themes, such as governance.
The workshop calls for conceptual, empirical and methodological submissions, across sciences, addressing the connection between biodiversity and business. Papers are welcome, for example, to the following sub-themes:
- The concept of biodiversity
- Consumers, consumption culture and biodiversity
- Business, management and biodiversity, e.g. strategies, business models, management practices
- Biodiversity-respectful futures
- Biodiversity in specific sectors, such as food
- Measuring biodiversity footprints
- Biodiversity reporting and compensation schemes
- Actors and change-makers in pursuit of sustainable futures
- The role of governance
- Supportive solutions, such as circular economy, climate-neutral business, degrowth and/or regenerative business, are welcome
- Ontological and epistemological considerations
