THE OBJECTIVE
To understand how biosphere defenders can advance NBS in the context of specific EU and Swiss supply chain governance instruments and sustainable finance regulations, with a focus on identifying and formulating strategies to strengthen biosphere defenders’ participation
THE MAIN QUESTION
What role do biosphere defenders play in ensuring that new EU and Swiss supply chain and finance regulations effectively advance NBS?
FROM THE QUESTION TO THE ANSWER(S): OUR ROADMAP
We look at how biosphere defenders are driving change in global supply chains. By using legal tools and local knowledge, they push companies and governments in the EU and Swiss to make trade fairer and more nature-positive. Through case studies and interviews in Europe and LAC, we will identify the mechanisms, challenges, and opportunities defenders face in advancing NBS.
We examine how biosphere defenders contribute to implementing EU and Swiss corporate sustainable finance frameworks, such as the Taxonomy Regulation and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. While investigating their role in ensuring that financial flows support biodiversity and ecosystem protection, we also highlight related risks and gaps.
We bring together scientists, policymakers, and biosphere defenders in a transnational workshop to co-create strategies that strengthen defenders’ roles in shaping fair and effective sustainability regulations. We focus on empowering defenders through access to knowledge, legal tools, and structured feedback mechanisms.
WHAT’S NEW?
We joined the first episode of the DEFEND-BIO Podcast to explore how EU directives on value chains and finance affect LAC. The discussion looks at how implementing EU and Swiss legislation can strengthen biosphere defenders and what added value transnational legal empowerment tools bring beyond national frameworks. Tune it in here!
TEAM MEMBERS OF THIS AREA OF WORK
Led by the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE)- University of Bern, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the team members of this area of work are
Elizabeth Bürgi Bonanomi– PI. Professor, CDE- University of Bern
Gabi Sonderegger– Senior Reasearch Scientist, CDE-University of Bern
Judith Schäli– Senior Reasearch Scientist, CDE-University of Bern
TRANSNATIONAL EUROPEAN ECONOMIC LAW WORKS HAND IN HAND WITH
The area of Litigation in Latin America and the Caribbean countries led by the Brussels School of Governance (BSoG)- Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB)
&
The area of International and Regional Law led by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI)- Lund University
DEFEND-BIO 