Photo: Ryan Woo-CIFOR
Why should conservation organisations engage in transforming business practices?
As the 2019 landmark report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) confirmed, economic activities contribute to drivers of change in biodiversity and nature. To reverse the loss of biodiversity, these drivers need to be addressed by the actors concerned – from the largest multinational corporations to small-scale fisheries and farm producers. However, we need to act quickly as change takes time and experts predict we only have about 10 years to shift the needle. We need to act quickly if we want to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
The majority of businesses worldwide still have little or no awareness about the ecological crisis, let alone the impacts and dependencies their companies have on nature, or what to do about it. Even so, the private sector’s attitude towards social and environmental impact is changing, due to regulatory pressure, risk factors or a genuine will to do the right thing.
The private sector also has vast resources at its disposal – innovation, market knowledge, research and development capacity, management experience, data and more – which can be harnessed for sustainable development. However, in order to accelerate the transition at the speed and scale required, concerted collaboration among the conservation community is needed to motivate and support companies to change their practices.
No “one-size-fits-all” approach
In a recently published article in Nature Science, around three-quarters of more than 900 conservationists surveyed from 149 countries agreed with a so-called ‘conservation through capitalism’ approach. Private sector engagement has been a thorny issue throughout IUCN’s 70-plus year history. We cannot ignore the damage done to ecosystems and communities by business, and the lack of trust in business ‘to do the right thing’ for people and nature, which exists in some parts of the world.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach; and depending on the context, the conservation community has many entry points through which to engage with business. Some may involve direct interaction with a company, providing data or advice, facilitating connections with local communities, or even working in partnership in landscapes or value chains on shared conservation goals.
Civil society can also influence companies indirectly, for example by helping regulators design effective legal levers or playing a “watchdog” role to support implementation of laws or financial safeguards.
Each conservation organisation has a different and complementary role to play, and we will cover these more in future posts, which will be rolled out in coming weeks.
To address global risks related to the environment, we need to ensure that business puts in place minimum safeguards with respect to people and nature. As a next step, as businesses recognise their broader role in society, they should implement more sustainable practices, ultimately leading to a net positive impact on nature.
Why now?
The world is at a turning point, as marked by the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2020, which identified for the first time that all top five risks are related to the environment.
Momentum is clearly growing around business engagement on the environment. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for civil society organisations to develop new partnerships with business, while organisations such as the Global Environment Facility emphasise private sector engagement as a way to scale up the change needed to achieve biodiversity and sustainability goals.
There is a real desire among companies - large and small - to engage on environmental issues, and we must be ready to meet the demand.
The conservation community has an opportunity to reflect on its collective experience and share its most (and least) effective ways of engaging business. The IUCN BioBiz Exchange aims to readily share this intelligence, so we can help scale up the conservation community’s collaboration with the private sector and accelerate the transition to more sustainable business practices.
Continue your journey here.
Useful Resources
Here are a few useful resources to help kick-start the discussion in your organisation around the role of business.
- IUCN’s Business Engagement Strategy (PDF)
- Webinar on introducing business engagement (listen to the recording here)
- Introduction to business engagement (download presentation here)
- Blog post - Business collaboration is key to building a healthier future by Gerard Bos, Director of IUCN's Business and Biodiversity Programme
- SDGs for Business – an interactive guide developed by WBCSD, which describes each SDG and their implications for business
