Analytical Approach

What drives biodiversity loss?

The analytical approach explores how different factors driving biodiversity loss work at different scales, and how they are linked to each another and to biodiversity loss.

The approach is designed to be flexible enough to be applicable to a wide range of situations and to incorporate all types of socioeconomic factors and their complex interrelationships. At the same time it offers a common framework to ensure comparability of findings and conclusions across case studies.

The approach uses a 4-step process to assess the root causes of biodiversity loss:

- literature review;
- development of initial conceptual model;
- data collection; and
- revision of conceptual model.

Based on an extensive review of the existing literature on the subject, WWF has developed a comprehensive framework using 5 broad categories describing causality. Those categories are:

1. Demographic change.
2. Poverty and inequality.
3. Public policies, markets and politics.
4. Macroeconomic policies and structures.
5. Social change and development biases.

To help facilitate use of this methodology, WWF has developed a user's guide and training programme on how to undertake root causes case studies.