Type: Book

Protecting natural capital and biodiversity in the agri-food sector

Editor

Dr Jill Atkins is Professor in Accounting at Cardiff University, UK and is also a Visiting Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Her research focuses on corporate governance, responsible investment, sustainability, integrated reporting and extinction accounting. She is Series Editor for the de Gruyter Studies in Corporate Governance and her leading textbook, Corporate Governance and Accountability, is now in its 5th edition. Professor Atkins is well-known throughout the ESG investment industry and governance area as a thought leader and is regularly invited to give keynotes at international practitioner and academic events.

Dimensions:

229x152mm
6x9"

Publication date:

30 January 2024

Length of book:

400 pages

ISBN-13: 9781801463515

Hardback - £150.00
£150.00
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Description

Natural capital accounting provides techniques to value natural resources and the ecosystem services they deliver. These techniques are being increasingly used by governments, banks and other financial institutions to set conservation priorities, make ecologically-based investment decisions, and to improve the impact of agri-food businesses on the natural world.

Protecting natural capital and biodiversity in the agri-food sector provides a comprehensive overview of how key actors in the agri-food supply chain account for their impacts on natural capital. The book explores recent advances in the accounting and reporting frameworks to measure these impacts, as well as how natural capital and biodiversity can be identified and protected in a variety of agri-food sectors such as dairy production, palm oil production and winemaking.

The book showcases how the agri-food sector can better value and protect ecosystem services and reverse the depletion of natural capital and biodiversity.

Key features

  • Provides a detailed overview of how natural capital and biodiversity can be protected in particular sectors, focussing on the dairy industry, palm oil production, winemaking and avocado cultivation
  • Considers the impact of agriculture on pollinators and the services they deliver, as well as how insect biodiversity can be conserved in an array of agricultural landscapes
  • Includes informative case studies of natural capital and biodiversity accounting in several regions, including Sweden, South Africa and Brazil

What others are saying...

Protecting natural capital and biodiversity in the agri-food sector is a welcome addition to the Burleigh Dodds’ collection of volumes on sustainable agriculture. The general effects of both the extensive and intensive growth of agriculture on biodiversity are reasonably well known, but this volume offers a deeper dive into the biodiversity impacts of specific technologies in particular places, along with the accounting protocols by which those impacts may be measured. Professor Atkins has assembled a team of authors from Europe, South Africa, and the USA whose expertise spans the science, accounting, and governance of the biodiversity impacts of the agri-food sector. Their contributions are likely to be of especial interest to practitioners in that sector.” (Professor Emeritus Charles Perrings, Arizona State University, USA)

Table of contents

  • 1.Protecting natural capital and biodiversity in agricultural supply chains: Introduction: Jill Atkins, Cardiff University, UK;

Part 1 The impact of agriculture on natural capital and biodiversity: international case studies

  • 2. Natural capital and biodiversity accounting in the South African agri-food sector: Warren Maroun, University of The Witswatersrand, South Africa;
  • 3. Avocado cultivation and biodiversity challenges: Jill Atkins, Cardiff University, UK;
  • 4. Natural capital accounting and sustainable soybean farming in Brazil: creating a circular economy: Dr Wayne van Zijl;
  • 5. Biodiversity accounting in the marine aquaculture and fisheries sector: Prof Warren Maroun;
  • 6. Assessing the impact of pesticide production and use on natural capital and biodiversity: Mira Lieberman-Boyd, University of Sheffield, UK;

Part 2 Protecting biodiversity and natural capital in agri-food supply chains: the role of accounting and finance

  • 7. Advances in natural capital accounting: Jӧel Houdet, University of Pretoria, South Africa;
  • 8. Natural capital and biodiversity accounting in the Swedish agri-food sector: Kristina Jonäll, University of Gothenburg, Sweden;
  • 9. Natural capital accounting in the fast food sector: Jill Atkins, Cardiff University, UK;
  • 10. Natural capital and biodiversity accounting in the dairy industry: Hannu Schadewitz, University of Turku, Finland;
  • 11. Natural capital and biodiversity accounting in palm oil production: Gunnar Rimmel, Henley Business School, UK;
  • 12. Natural accounting and biodiversity in winemaking: Federica Doni, University of Milan, Italy;
  • 13. How investment institutions are engaging with industry in protecting natural capital and biodiversity: Martina Macpherson, Head of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Strategy, Oddo Investment Managers BHF, UK;
  • 14. Exploring corporate weather accounting by the UK food retail industry: Jill Atkins, Cardiff University, UK;

Part 3 Protecting pollinators and insect biodiversity in agri-food supply chains

  • 15. Using data to assess the impact of agriculture on pollinators and pollinator services: Walter Haefeker, former President – European Beekeepers’ Association, Germany;
  • 16. Developing and implementing plans to conserve insect biodiversity in agricultural landscapes: Scott Longing, Texas Tech University, USA;