Biodiversity at the heart of human development strategies.

Summary Environmental policies, which have developed since the second half of the 20th century, have little to do with biodiversity and ecosystem services, with the exception of the protection of emblematic species (lynx, bear, etc.), the management of fishery resources and remarkable ecosystems, such as national parks. The approach of economists in this field now emphasizes self-maintenance services and considers that biodiversity management is no longer simply a question of minimizing costs to achieve a certain objective of reducing damage. Humans are part of biodiversity and interact with its different elements, individually (as residents) or collectively, whether through local communities, businesses or administrations. Biodiversity management is therefore the management of these interactions, at different scales of time and space.