Welcome. I am Rob van Tulder, Professor of International Business Society Management at Rotterdam School of Management. In this video, I will explain why landscape restoration is embraced as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. How wicked the challenges and why we consequently need all societal parties to come up with an effective approach. Landscape degradation is one of the key challenges identified by the United Nations for creating a sustainable future for the world by the year 2030. It is truly a wicked challenge with 12 million hectares of land every year lost due to degradation. Landscape degradation is covered by SDG Goal number 15, Life on Land. This goal aims at managing forests sustainably, combating desertification, halting and reversing land degradation and halting biodiversity loss. The problem of landscape degradation is wicked. This is not only because it is big and systemic, but also because all spheres of society are involved in creating the problem. So, all spheres of society also need to be involved in its solution. But landscape degradation can also be considered the canary in the mine. The issue of climate change, as covered by SDG 13 for instance, is relatively abstract. The same applies to issues like income inequality or gender equality. But the consequences of landscape degradation are observable everyday, everywhere. Local communities that grind down their own existence by cutting down trees and creating erosion, cities that become heat islands due to a lack of trees and parks, open pit mining that ruins local ecosystems, overgrazing, forcing local communities to move to other pastures, and waste dumping ruining attractive tourist sites. Well, this phenomenon is also known as the tragedy of the commons, which in short refers to the inability of people to act in the interest of the community even if they themselves also suffer from the negative consequences if they don't take action. So, we don't even have to talk about more indirect consequences like pollution or man-made global warming to observe the effect of our lack of action. This makes landscape restoration a perfect case to zoom in on when we want to understand the preconditions for the way society in general and business in specific can design effective approaches to create positive change in the world. So, why would companies be interested in landscape restoration? Because it can be done. The governance models and management principles are already available. It needs to be done. If not addressed, it represents a gigantic problem. For instance, insurance companies are faced with greater damages risks, or agro food companies are faced with lower productivity, because 52 percent of agricultural land is affected by soil degradation. Thirdly, it actually represent a management issue that is solvable. There exists sufficiently positive approaches in the world that show the way. It represents, if managed correctly, a huge investment opportunity. But it's not easy to reap the benefits of this common challenge. Certainly not in the short run. Luckily, we know a lot on how to address it. In implied approach that all sectors of society are involved in, positive change needs to be established because negative doom scenarios do not work. Tragedy of the commons problems are often associated with choice paralysis and wait and see strategies. Third, action requires investment rather than subsidies. We also know that voluntary action alone is inadequate and it implies a different approach to doing business, therefore beyond philanthropy. In this publication, I have elaborated, in much more detail, how to apply these principles. In order to develop innovative business models for landscape restoration, companies have to take four different licenses into account. These licenses are related to the four types of return on investment that are central to the enable formula and that this course helps you to identify, elaborate, and implement. The license to exist. A company loses its license if it produces bad products or services. Market that produce bad products fail. In the longer run, this is bound to limit the return on financial capital of the company. The license to operate. Company loses its license to operate in particular if it creates, so-called, negative externalities for the local communities it is active in. Negative externalities, such as pollution and of course landscape degradation, limit the company's return on natural capital but also it ruins its reputation. Third, a company can also create a license to scale when it creates sufficient social benefits, for instance, through the creation of jobs and a better environment. Finally, a company gains a license to experiment, for instance, proactive attitude towards complex Sustainable Development Goals require innovation and learning by doing. Not every initiative is directly successful. Can you fail but nevertheless inspire people to move beyond their own self-interest and make the next iteration work? Wrapping up. Zooming in on SDG 15, implies that we take the ecosystems not only as a natural boundaries of all human interaction but also as the litmus test for the introduction of successful and innovative approaches. The canary in the mine should not die but rather thrive. This course helps you to define more effective approaches to each of these four licenses. They are related. When addressed properly, they should help you to deal with one of the most wicked but also one of the most tangible challenges of today, landscape degradation. I wish you inspiration, energy and great insights that can be put to practice instantly.