Businesses play an irrefutably important role in any plans to safeguard biodiversity and the environment. Almost nine out of ten of the world’s fisheries are overexploited and deforestation accounts for nearly 15% of worldwide carbon emissions, prompting the 2018 World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report to place biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as a top global risk. Any conservation strategy, if it is to be effective, requires businesses to be part of the discussion.

In recognition of this relationship the UN Biodiversity Conference, held from 13 to 29 November 2018 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, is hosting a two-day forum titled ‘Business and Biodiversity: Investing in Biodiversity for People and Planet’ from 14-15 November, as well as a number of business-focused side events. By bringing together corporate and business leaders with representatives from civil society, academia, and indigenous and local communities, the forum is a unique opportunity to exchange good practices and experiences.

Through its decades of experience in advising decision-makers, UNEP-WCMC is well-placed to play a key role in these discussions, with Deputy Director Corli Pretorius facilitating a panel discussion on energy in the Business and Biodiversity Forum.

UNEP-WCMC is also co-hosting a number of side events throughout the rest of the Conference:

• ‘How can the use of biodiversity footprints make a difference in investment decisions and in businesses’ strategic decisions?’ - Sunday 18 November, 13:15
• ‘Mainstreaming biodiversity in the oil and gas sector: good practices for biodiversity management’ - Sunday 18 November, 18:15
• ‘Business action on mainstreaming the value of natural capital’ Monday 19 November, 13:15

Corli commented: “The climate and biodiversity agendas are inextricably interlinked, which needs to be reflected in efforts at the site, corporate and sector level.

“Governments, the business and the finance community can advance the agendas by raising the bar on accounting for nature and addressing the barriers to action.”

Image: - Tomasz Zajda stock.adobe.com