Bringing business into the CBD

COP10 to the Convention on Biological Diversity, October 2010, Nagoya, Japan

IUCN positions in previous CBD meetings have highlighted that, because all business depend and impact on biodiversity, business should be encouraged to measure, manage and value their impacts as well as scale‐up mitigation, offsetting and sustainable use solutions.The relevance of business sharing their expertise, information and technology, and promoting good conservation practice broadly has also been acknowledged. Furthermore, the role of business is not limited to reducing its environmental ‘footprint’; business also has a positive contribution to CBD objectives as environmental stewards.

The IUCN Global Business and Biodiversity Programme will participate în the 10th Conference of the Parties taking place in Nagoya from 18 to 29 October. IUCN will facilitate business engagement and organize several key events including the International Business and Ecosystem Dialogue, and some side events related to biofuels, sustainable construction and business and biodiversity initiatives (more details below).

The International Business and Ecosystems Dialogue

This full day event will explore adaptive business strategies and government policy frameworks to effectively address biodiversity and ecosystem service degradation and loss.

Timing: 26 October, 09:00-18:15 Place: Room 130, 3rd floor, Bldg 1

Jointly organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN),
Keidanren Committee on Nature Conservation (KCNC) and World Business
Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), with support from the CBD
Secretariat, the International Business and Ecosystems Dialogue is a direct response to calls from earlier COPs and recent business and biodiversity events to increase business engagement and strengthen business support for the CBD’s core objectives.The dialogue aims to înform ministers and government delegations about existing successful business actions to address biodiversity loss and impacts on ecosystems; and discuss strategies and policies that effectively leverage market forces and the ability of business to provide solutions at scale.

Integrating biodiversity management into the building materials sector

Organized by IUCN and Holcim, this event will focus on what are the risks and opportunities related to biodiversity in the building material sector.

 Time: 25 October, 16:30 - 18:00 Place:  Room 136, 3rd Floor, Bldg 1

The Biodiversity Management System, which has been proposed for Holcim by the IUCN-Holcim Independent Expert panel will be presented, followed by an interactive discussion on the role of the public sector in providing the enabling environment for effective implementation and the role of partnerships to address the challenges of measuring the long term effectiveness of such management systems on biodiversity conservation.

Engaging the CBD to build on existng biofuel sustainability initiatives

The primary objective of this side event is to demonstrate how existing biofuel guidelines and standards address ways and means to promote the positive and minimize the negative impacts of the production and use of biofuels on biodiversity.

 Time: 25 October, 16:30 - 18:00  Place: Room 231B, 3rd Floor, Bldg 2

Additional objectives are to discuss the linkages to other work streams under the CBD as well as the linkages and coherence with other conventions such as UNFCCC, UNCCD and Ramsar. Guidelines and standards such as those being developed by the Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) and by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) provide an excellent foundation for the CBD to build on, rather than develop separate criteria for biofuels. The side event will include an overview of existing standards and processes, supported by case study examples that demonstrate their effects on the ground and their linkages with broader land use planning processes such as Responsible Cultivation Areas (RCA) and the 4 step land use assessment framework. Discussions during the side event will address how to engage the CBD and its parties within existing bodies of work (including work by GBEP, RSB and UN-Energy) concerning biofuels and biodiversity impacts. Supporting partners confirmed for this side event are UNEP, RSB, WWF and CI.

Developing successful business and biodiversity initiatives

Learning from existing business and biodiversity initiatives

Time: 25 October or 27 October (to be confirmed)

In this event organized by IUCN, the CBD and the Keidanren Committee on Nature Conservation (KCNC), representatives from 3-4 established business and biodiversity initiatives will outline the lessons learned and challenges encountered in setting up and running such initiatives. A discussion will then take place to determine the key elements of success needed for setting up these initiatives.

Business & Biodiversity
Business related events at the CBD COP 10
Information paper on business engagement
IUCN policy papers
The International Business and Ecosystem Dialogue