Business and Biodiversity Initiative

For the occasion of the CoP 10 the ‘Biodiversity in Good Company’ Initiative will be on site and available in Nagoya, Japan.

The Initiative is hosting its own side events, where representatives from the politics, business, civil society and the media will present their current projects (see also CoP 10 events). The focus of the activities in Nagoya is to depict the integral connection between business and biodiversity, while clearly linking the interplay to corporate activities. In this light, the Initiative has organised one side event to present the "Corporate Biodiversity Management Handbook", which gives businesses specific ideas on how to incorporate aspects biodiversity into management practices. At an additional side event, the member companies will have the opportunity to report on the progress they have made in accomplishing the seven goals found in the Initiative’s Leadership Declaration. They will share their experiences in implementing a biodiversity management system and give examples from their corporate projects and successes.

The 'Biodiversity in Good Company' team will also be available at the main "International Fair for Biodiversity" at the Initiative’s information booth. There the general public will be able to see the touring exhibition “Without Biological Diversity, No Economic Diversity”. The exhibition makes information available to a wide range of people about the value of biodiversity and the important role business plays in preserving biodiversity. The stand also provides the Initiative team a forum to present the latest Initiative publications ("Corporate Biodiversity Management Handbook", Fact Book) as well as the activities of the member companies through sustainability reports, best practice examples, videos, etc. A business lounge is also available for fair attendees to have a comfortable area for conversation and direct access to the Initiative team.

More information on CoP 10 here

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“From Commitment to Action” is the motto of the most recent Initiative publication – a company fact book – made just for the CoP 10.  It presents the member companies’ consistent engagement and documents their implementation of the Leadership Declaration. Member companies will present their individual biodiversity management approaches as well as specific implementation examples.

A PDF version of the Fact Book containing all of the member companies’ contributions can be downloaded here.

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In addition to the English and German editions of the "Corporate Biodiversity Management Handbook", there are now efforts to publish this manual in two other languages.

On the occasion of the CoP 10 in Nagoya, Japan a Japanese version of the handbook has been published.  The topic of business and biodiversity can be better spread throughout the island country, thanks to the Japanese trade association Nippon Keidanren, who took on the task of translated the manual. 

A translation into Portuguese is also currently in the works. Our partner in Brazil, the industry association CNI, has teamed together with the World Bank for this project. The coming year is filled with special training courses on handbook implementation.  CNI has conceptualised these events and will offer them to companies at their facilities.

Online Platform "Corporate Biodiversity Management Handbook"

More information on cooperations and partners here.

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Why is biodiversity important? What impact does biodiversity loss have on tourism and what can be done about this? These are the questions that around 25 representatives of international travel associations, agencies and nature conservation institutes were grappling with from September 29 – 30, 2010 at the Robinson Club Cala Serena. The Environmental Management Team from TUI AG together with the Global Nature Fund (GNF) invited travel agents from Spain, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands to Majorca. Here they discussed practical measures that travel agencies can take to help preserve biodiversity and brainstormed to come up with new ideas for the industry. The workshop was held by the European campaign "Business & Biodiversity" of the GNF. It was the European Business and Biodiversity Campaign’s opening workshop and kicked off its first workshop series.

“Preserving biodiversity is an important challenge for our future. We want to work together with our partners, as well as with our competitors, to anchor biodiversity protection in our offers and tourist activities. We can only be successful in this endeavour if countries and businesses alike work together on solutions,” (the goal of this event) explained Mila Dahle, Head of Environmental Management / Sustainable Development at TUI AG.

At their event, TUI and the GNF were intent on clarity. Therefore, they brought in many practical examples to help improve participants’ awareness about the natural diversity of species. Following this part of the workshop the participants developed, in an interactive process, measures intended to protect biodiversity along the tourism value chain.  Additional possibilities, as to the ways adequate environmental corporate standards could be set, were also discussed. 

Presentations from experts at the German Technical Cooperation (Business and Biodiversity Initiative 'Biodiversity in Good Company') as well as the GNF aided participants in the knowing where to find implementation support in achieving their biodiversity goals. TUI also brought in their relevant corporate experience through their activities on the Balearic Islands. Part of the program included a sightseeing trip of the TUI Forest and a tour of the TUI “Environment Champion” Club Cala Serena with a Robinson Environmental Manager.

Mike Brauner, TUI

For additional information about TUI, click here.
For the other Good Companies, click here.

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Starting on October 18, the representatives from over 190 countries have come together to discuss the future of biological diversity and develop a strategy for its protection.  The goal set in 2002 – to reduce the ever-diminishing biological diversity by 2010 – has clearly not been achieved. At the tenth Conference of Parties to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CoP 10) in Nagoya, Japan – equivalent to the climate conference in Copenhagen – new goals and refined strategies are being developed for the next ten years. The conference should produce not only a strategic plan for 2020 but also develop pragmatic implementation goals. Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD Executive Secretary, opened the conference exhorting the participating parties that “[t]he time to act is now and the place to act is here at the Aichi-Nagoya Biodiversity Summit”.

However issues surrounding the strategic plans are very controversial. The big question yet to be answered is who will pay for the prescribed actions? One of the main reasons for the current unfettered destruction of biodiversity is the lack of financial support for effective protection.  Developing countries are home to the world’s richest areas of biodiversity. These are the areas though, which are lacking the necessary funds to protect and sustainably use their resources. For this reason, the conference in Nagoya is saddled with developing and establishing a functioning funding instrument that will take on the task of meeting the CBD goals and aiding the countries that need help towards this end.

Other areas of concern at the CoP 10 revolve around the question of access to genetic resources and the appropriate sharing of benefits gained through use (Access and Benefit Sharing, ABS). The CoP 10 is striving to establish international public ABS laws to effectively hinder future “Bio-Piracy”.

More information about the negotiations in Nagoya can be found on our homepage at: CoP 10 News

Official CoP 10 website: www.cbd.int/cop10

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The European Commission published new guidelines on natural resource mining in protected areas. With the release of the new guidelines on October 5, 2010 the Commission reacts to the increasing demand for raw materials.

More information about this topic can be found here.

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The new interactive platform serves to make the conservation areas around the world more public so that more “life” comes to them through actual visits as well as virtually. They have catalogued over 150,000 nature reserves on their website www.protectedplanet.net, which was presented on October 19 at the CoP10 in Nagoya.

The international Internet community – the so-called ‘Citizen Scientists’ – should be able to update the database with firsthand information. They can upload pictures and reports of areas visited, thereby increasing public awareness of little or less known protected areas. The website should also provide scientists and NGOs with much information that they have – until now – not had access to.

The website is a concerted effort of the UNEP and International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Visit the website at www.protectedplanet.net

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