Biodiversity is the variety of plants, animals and habitats that all work together to keep ecosystems stable. This diversity ensures that important processes function: Forests and soils store CO₂, plants filter water and insects pollinate our food. If biodiversity is lost, these natural climate protectors are weakened - with consequences such as more frequent flooding, poorer air quality and infertile soils. Biodiversity is therefore not only essential for nature, but also for our climate and our quality of life.
The outdoor habitat outside our four walls. This is where everything that nature has to offer takes place, and everyone has their place in the big picture. A single tree, for example, can house and feed hundreds of life forms. From the birds in its branches to the insects under its bark and the microorganisms that live in symbiosis with its root system. Because biodiversity is not just about what we see.
It also includes water cycles, food chains, fertilization mechanisms and thousands of other interrelationships. The functionality of biodiversity is fundamental to the balance of nature and the preservation of habitats.
Top-class basic research
Together with the Center for Sustainable Leadership (ZNU) at Witten/Herdecke University, Bochum University of Applied Sciences and the Center for Technology and Society (ZTG) at the Technical University of Berlin, we sat down at a table and thought about it:
How can we classify biodiversity from a natural, social and economic science perspective? And how can we develop measurable standards that are suitable for everyday business practice?
We not only wanted to develop scientific methods that make the biodiversity effects of food production visible. Our aim was to provide companies with fundamental support in anchoring the protection and promotion of biodiversity in their management.