Main LiveDiverse objectives

  1. To increase knowledge of the social, economic, cultural and spiritual values of biodiversity, and of their interaction with ecological biodiversity.
  2. To contribute to the development of an integrated methodology that takes into account bio-physical, socio-economic and cultural-spiritual aspects of biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods.
  3. To improve understanding of public belief systems regarding biodiversity through the development of a biodiversity belief systems scale.
  4. To contribute to the development of GIS based assessments of combinations of ecological, socio- economic and cultural-spiritual vulnerability.
  5. To develop and improve methods to facilitate the communication and uptake of information and the participation of social groups.
  6. To develop and implement methods to engage end-users, stakeholders and the public in the move to sustainable livelihoods and diversity, and to secure their involvement and empowerment in the LiveDiverse project.
  7. To provide an analytical framework for better understanding the role of beliefs, values, and attitudes in perceptions of biological, socio-economic and cultural-spiritual vulnerability.
  8. To analyse the main determinants of ecological vulnerability at the various levels in the study sites.
  9. To development practical recommendations for reducing vulnerability to environmental change at each of the various levels and in a fashion that is sensitive to relevant environmental, cultural, etc. contexts.
  10. To explore coping mechanisms and policies for dealing with cultural and spiritual vulnerability through scenarios and stakeholder, end-user and public participation.
  11. To analyse and evaluate the role of formal and informal institutions in promoting biodiversity, socio-economic sustainability and cultural-spiritual diversity, and in securing sustainable livelihoods for people in rural areas in developing countries.
  12. To examine existing value-based strategies and to develop new strategies that take into account potential and existing conflicts between differing values.
  13. To categorise existing policy instruments and analyse their effectiveness and to formulate new recommendations’ for policy instruments and combinations of policy instruments for sustainable livelihoods and diversity (biological and cultural).
  14. To provide knowledge for the reduction of poverty and the vulnerability of livelihoods, especially in rural areas.
  15. To contribute to the development of policy instruments and tools for conflict prevention, resolution and reconciliation.