’If we buy these imported products, we are co-responsible for the global decline in biodiversity’

Insights and solutions for now and the future Research in the spotlight - What we buy and consume in Europe often has an impact on biodiversity somewhere else in the world. With a Horizon Europe Funding of 600.000 euros, assistant professor Laura Scherer and her team will develop models to look at the impact of global trade in non-food biomass. 'After developing the models, we can look for solutions to protect the biodiversity in the trading process.' Our consumption of non-food biomass, such as wood, fish for livestock feed, cotton for textiles and biofuel, largely depends on imports from outside of Europe. The production of these products can have a big impact on the local biodiversity. This impact often stays unknown to the countries that buy the products. That has to change, Scherer says. 'Trade significantly contributes to biodiversity loss.