Reflections on the Action4Commons Final Webinar: Biodiversity is Not an Optional Add-On to Environmental Issues 28 August 2026 | Online Webinar

After four years of research and collaboration, the Action4Commons project has reached its conclusion. During this period, the project generated important insights into biodiversity governance, stakeholder collaboration, and the management of common resources. It also opened new avenues for future research on how businesses, public authorities, communities, and civil society organizations can work together to address complex environmental challenges such as biodiversity loss.

To share the project's findings and engage stakeholders in discussion, the research teams from Tampere University and LUT University organized a final online webinar that brought together participants from academia, industry, government, and civil society.

The webinar attracted strong interest from a diverse range of stakeholders. Invitations were sent to approximately 200 individuals, resulting in 63 registrations. Participants represented universities and research institutions, mining and mineral sector companies, environmental organizations, government agencies, technology and circular-economy firms, consulting organizations, and civil society associations.

This broad participation underscores the growing importance of biodiversity-related issues across sectors and highlights increasing recognition that sustainable resource governance requires collaboration beyond organizational and disciplinary boundaries.

Understanding Collective Action for the Commons

The central objective of the Action4Commons project has been to develop the concept of collective stakeholder action as a way of understanding how businesses can participate in governing commons together with societal and public actors.

Based on collective action theory and stakeholder theory, the project explored the following overarching research question:

How can collective stakeholder action be conceptualized as a solution that integrates joint value creation with polycentric governance to address challenges related to the governance of commons?

Through three interconnected work packages, the project examined stakeholder collaboration, biodiversity governance, value creation, and the governance processes required to address complex environmental issues.

Webinar Highlights: Exploring Biodiversity, Collaboration, and Value Creation

Although most participants were Finnish-speaking and the webinar was primarily conducted in Finnish, the opening session was presented in English by Professor Laura Albareda (LUT University) and Professor Johanna Kujala (Tampere University) to accommodate international participants.

The webinar focused on four key questions:

• Why does biodiversity protection matter?

• What role can businesses and stakeholder collaboration play in protecting biodiversity?

• How can value be created simultaneously for people and biodiversity?

• How can collaboration be enabled across different sectors and levels of society?

The event was further enriched by stakeholder commentaries from:

• Maija Mehtälä, Outokumpu Chrome Oy

• Vesa Puuronen, Rajat Lapin Kaivoksille ry

By bringing together perspectives from both industry and civil society, the discussion provided valuable reflections on the challenges and opportunities associated with biodiversity governance in the mining sector.

Biodiversity as a Shared Responsibility

Opening the webinar, Professor Laura Albareda emphasized that biodiversity loss has become one of the defining environmental challenges of our time. Biodiversity is not merely an environmental concern but a foundation for ecosystem services, community well-being, and long-term business viability.

A key message emerging from the project is that biodiversity enhancement cannot be achieved through company-centred management alone. Instead, it requires collaboration among multiple actors operating across different levels of society. Achieving biodiversity goals means coordinating global sustainability commitments with local decisions concerning land use, natural resources, and critical raw materials.

The research also highlighted an important tension: while substantial policy attention has been devoted to tackling climate change, biodiversity concerns often remain secondary despite their fundamental importance for both society and economic activity.

Rethinking the Relationship Between Business and Biodiversity

Another presentation by doctoral researcher Lotta Sihvo Matikainen explored the complex relationship between business and biodiversity. Businesses rely on natural systems for resources and ecosystem services, yet business activities can also contribute to biodiversity loss.

The presentation emphasized that biodiversity is inherently complex and operates across multiple ecological and social levels. As a result, companies often lack the knowledge required to fully understand biodiversity-related impacts without engaging with stakeholders who possess local, scientific, or experiential knowledge.

Three perspectives on the company-biodiversity relationship were presented: Fragmented relationship where biodiversity is addressed through isolated environmental issues. Systemic relationship when interconnections between ecosystems and business activities are recognized. Holistic relationship when humans and businesses are understood as part of nature, biodiversity is valued intrinsically, and nature itself is considered a stakeholder.

This progression highlights the importance of moving beyond narrow compliance-based approaches toward more integrated and responsible forms of environmental governance.

Creating Value for Biodiversity

One of the project's central questions concerned how mining companies and their stakeholders can create value for biodiversity rather than focusing solely on minimizing harm. The presentation given by University Lecturer Riikka Tapaninaho highlighted that biodiversity value extends beyond economic considerations. Both instrumental value and intrinsic value are important, and biodiversity's significance is often shaped through ongoing interactions and dialogue between companies and stakeholders. The research identified several forms of biodiversity-related value creation: Conservation value, Restoration value, Regenerative value and Transformative value. Creating such value requires a multidimensional understanding of biodiversity that incorporates ecological, social, and local perspectives. Stakeholder engagement and local knowledge therefore play a crucial role in identifying biodiversity challenges and opportunities.

Governance of Biodiversity Across Scales

The webinar also addressed a fundamental governance challenge: how can cooperation be organized across different sectors and levels of society? This is an important aspect of biodiversity protection. Professor Jarkko Levänen and Jaan-Pauli Kimpimäki explored mining as a cross-scale governance challenge, asking how mining activities can remain within ecological limits when environmental impacts and governing authority are dispersed across local, national, and global scales. Their research suggests that effective governance must place ecological realities at the center of decision-making. The presenters also emphasized that biodiversity-related challenges are often exacerbated by fragmented information flows between sectors and governance levels. While generating knowledge is important, the project found that creating shared understanding across different stakeholder groups may be even more critical. Building bridges between scientific expertise, local knowledge, industry perspectives, and policy processes is essential for effective biodiversity governance.

Key Reflections from the Discussion

The discussion highlighted biodiversity as a complex and evolving field where many questions remain unanswered. Participants emphasized that responding to biodiversity challenges requires combining scientific knowledge with practical experience and local expertise.

A recurring theme throughout the webinar was the importance of collaboration. Biodiversity challenges cannot be addressed by individual organizations acting in isolation. Effective responses require cooperation among businesses, researchers, public authorities, civil society organizations, and local communities. Such collaboration enables knowledge sharing across organizational and societal boundaries and supports more informed decision-making for sustainable resource management.

I personally believe that the mining sector provides a particularly important context for discussions about biodiversity governance. Mining activities interact extensively with natural ecosystems and are often subject to diverse stakeholder expectations and public scrutiny.

The Action4Commons project contributes to this conversation by demonstrating how collective stakeholder action can support biodiversity governance and help develop more sustainable approaches to natural resource use.

The webinar reinforced a clear conclusion: biodiversity will remain an increasingly important area for both research and practice. Despite growing awareness, significant knowledge gaps persist, and further research, experimentation, and collaboration will be needed to support effective biodiversity conservation and restoration.

As biodiversity underpins many broader sustainability goals, strengthening collaboration among stakeholders will remain essential for addressing future environmental challenges and advancing sustainable development.

On behalf of whole team of Action4Commons, I extend our sincere thanks to all participants, speakers, collaborating organizations, and stakeholders who contributed to the project and the final webinar. Your engagement helped create meaningful dialogue, deepen collective understanding, and identify new opportunities for future collaboration in biodiversity governance and the stewardship of our shared commons. Below is given the webinar program.

Program of the webinar

10.00    Tervetulotoivotus ja Action4Commons-hankkeen esittely (in English),

              Johanna Kujala, Tampereen yliopisto ja Laura Albareda, LUT-yliopisto.                         

10.05    Tutkijat esittelevät hankkeen tuloksia seuraavien näkökulmien kautta

•  Mikä on biodiversiteetin suojelun merkitys?

•  Mikä on yritysten ja sidosryhmäyhteistyön rooli biodiversiteetin suojelussa?

•  Miten ja millaista arvoa voidaan luoda ihmisille ja biodiversiteetille?

•  Miten yhteistyö mahdollistuu yhteiskunnan eri tasoilla ja sektoreilla?

10.30    Käytännön toimijoiden kommenttipuheenvuorot

•  Maija Mehtälä, Outokumpu Chrome Oy

•  Vesa Puuronen, Rajat Lapin Kaivoksille ry

10.45     Kysymyksiä, keskustelua

11.00     Webinaari päättyy