Businesses must take action to protect nature
In an urgent wake up call, a major report approved by governments worldwide calls on companies to take responsibility for biodiversity loss.
It’s official. The unsustainable use of natural resources by businesses across the world is posing a cataclysmic risk to the global economy. Yet the natural world sustains us all and helps underpin economic activity – from forests releasing oxygen, to rivers providing essential water.
Earlier this month, Born Free championed stronger action for wildlife and wild places at the 12th annual meeting of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES-12), in Manchester. As their new scientific report makes clear, the loss of biodiversity is a serious threat to business. Companies need to play a key role in protecting and restoring nature.
IPBES is an independent global body, bringing together leading scientists and governments to review the latest evidence on the state of nature. They produce vital reports to guide policy and decision-making worldwide.
“A central outcome of the meeting was governments’ formal adoption of IPBES’s first-ever fast-track Business and Biodiversity Assessment,” explains our International Policy Manager Adeline Lerambert. “The report’s message was clear: nature is everybody’s business.
“The Assessment provides practical tools for measuring business impacts and dependencies on nature, alongside more than 100 recommended actions for businesses, governments, financial institutions and civil society. It confirms that biodiversity loss is not just an environmental crisis, but also a severe risk to our economic stability.
“In 2023 alone, an estimated $7.3 trillion of public and private finance went into activities that had direct negative impacts on nature, yet healthy ecosystems continue to underpin more than half of global GDP.”
Importantly, the new Assessment will help guide efforts to achieve the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, to which the world’s governments committed in 2022. The Framework details the goals and targets for halting and reversing nature’s decline, and businesses need to play a central role in meeting global biodiversity goals.
This October, Armenia will host the upcoming United Nations’ Biodiversity Conference (CBD CoP17). As representatives of their government stated: “The Global Biodiversity Framework defines the destination, but science defines pathways.”
For Born Free, the discussions in Manchester reinforced key priorities. Wildlife and nature’s true value needs to be embedded into economic decision-making, together with advancing biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning, strengthening ecological connectivity, and ensuring meaningful accountability among the private and financial sectors.
These findings directly inform our policy advocacy at ‘international policy platforms’ convened by the United Nations (international platforms addressing global issues), across multilateral environmental agreements. These include the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), among others.
Robust, science-based assessments from IPBES strengthen the case for ambitious commitments and effective implementation to protect species and restore habitats worldwide. As we look ahead to upcoming global negotiations, the message from Manchester is unmistakable. The science is clear, the tools exist, and the responsibility is shared.
Born Free will continue to press for transformative change that safeguards wildlife and ensures human activities operate within strict ecological limits.