In Nuremberg the ‘Biodiversity in Good Company’ Initiative along with Initiative members from Germany and Japan took part in the <link http: www.suscon.net external-link-new-window external link in new>International Conference on Sustainable Business and Consumption (SusCon) on June 15-16. It aims to bring together a variety of actors from SMEs and multinational companies, through international organisations and NGOs, to politicians and the media in order to collectively discuss and develop realistic solutions for the environment.

A key occasion and a mark of major progress for the ‘Biodiversity in Good Company’ Initiative was the official introduction of the long-anticipated ‘Corporate Biodiversity Management Handbook’ at a press conference attended by a number of prominent guests. Dr. Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) opened the press conference and praised the Initiative for its successful work to date. Following on this the handbook was introduced by Ursula Heinen-Esser, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Prof. Dr. Schaltegger (Leuphana University Lüneburg) presented the finer points of the handbook, which based largely on best-practice examples from Initiative members. The handbook was well received by the international audience and created quite a bit of discussion around biodiversity in the corporate setting.

Dr. Ahmed Djoghlaf joined the ‘Biodiversity in Good Company’ Initiative’s member meeting on the first day and opened the morning by encouraging the member companies not only to maintain, but to expand their commitments in protecting biodiversity. Dr Djoghlaf emphasized the necessity of "dialogue at all levels” about biodiversity. The 'Biodiversity in Good Company' Initiative is advancing this dialogue on the political, scientific and corporate levels.

Conference participants had the opportunity to sit in on a number of different thematic sessions and workshops. In addition, SusCon sponsors had stands, where attendees could gather detailed practical information about biodiversity conservation through business practices.

The SusCon was a success and has been heralded by the press as becoming “one of the main events for sustainable business”. This international conference presented our members with the opportunity to showcase their current efforts in promoting the fusion of business and biodiversity protection throughout their corporate activities.

To find out more about the new Corporate Biodiversity Management Handbook, please visit the <link http: www.bmu.de english nature downloads doc external-link-new-window external link in new>German Ministry for Environment’s web page.