In December 2024, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) approved the Nexus assessment which assessed the interlinkages between biodiversity, water, food, and health. The term, “Nexus approach” was created as it aims to maximise synergies or minimise trade-offs in these interrelationships by understanding the interrelationships and interdependencies between sectors and systems. A key finding was that this approach is effective in addressing all elements of the environmental crises, i.e. biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change.

The Satoyama Initiative, proposed by the Government of Japan and the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), and endorsed at the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP10) in Aichi, Japan in 2010, is a global effort to promote landscape and seascape approaches for biodiversity and human well-being. The Initiative focuses its efforts on “socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS)”, which are dynamic mosaics of habitats and land/sea uses that provide the goods and services needed for human life while being managed to maintain biodiversity.

In this session, we aim to discuss how SEPLS embody the nexus approach and the methods and factors that must be considered for the successful and efficient implementation and outcome in real life. We will do this through a scientific conceptual framework, presentations of grassroots practices from Ghana and India, and a panel discussion.