Earthwatch’s Chris Perceval explains why biodiversity matters to us all and how businesses can respond to the challenges by getting involved.
Biodiversity: the stuff of life
Biodiversity, or the ‘variety and variability of living things’, emphasises the environment’s diversity and encompasses the full spectrum of ecosystems, habitats and species that provide many of the ‘free services’ upon which humans depend on for survival.
Concepts like ‘sustainable development’, ‘sustainable consumption and production’, ‘sustainable livelihoods’ and ‘sustainable resource management’ would be meaningless without considering biodiversity. Human health and the creation of wealth depend on harnessing biodiversity for social benefit. By the same token, sustainable development depends upon poverty eradication that reconnects human society to the true value of the world’s abundant ecosystems.
Why does biodiversity matter?
A company’s propensity for environmental stewardship depends on whether it has a direct or indirect impact, the level of that impact and the extent of the company’s ‘sphere of influence’ over the behaviour of other sections of society.
With new regulations, including the UK Operating and Financial Review and the EU Environmental Liabilities Directive, biodiversity is fast rising up the legislative agenda. In 2004, F&C Asset Management published a report with the Department for International Development, Is Biodiversity a Material Risk to Companies?, which drew on the experience of Earthwatch’s Corporate Environmental Responsibility Group (CERG) and Business in the Community’s Environment Index to show actual and perceived biodiversity risks across business sectors. The message of the report to many was “start investigating and managing biodiversity-related risks now”.
Getting involved
Companies that aim to be responsible should go beyond the framework for biodiversity management espoused in many of the available benchmarking tools. The best way to benchmark your activities informally is to join a forum like the Corporate Environmental Responsibility Group, which gives access to stakeholder expertise as well as the opinions group members who may be facing the same corporate responsibility management dilemmas.
There are three levels at which a company may find it relevant to respond to biodiversity. First, at a strategic level, where it is important to identify direct impacts from operations and land owned or managed by the company and indirect impacts through the supply chain. Due to varying levels of influence, some companies may have a more positive contribution to biodiversity management by supporting a bespoke research project or initiative. Often the way to find out the best approach to take is to speak with an environmental stakeholder like Earthwatch.
Second, through a focused commitment to biodiversity, companies could support specific scientific research that is being undertaken to better interpret the status, impacts of appropriate management of biodiversity in so-called ‘hot spots’. Earthwatch supports 140 scientific field research projects worldwide and tailors engagement with companies so that it suits wider company priorities or is relevant to their operational impacts and influence. Involving employees in scientific field research communicates effectively the importance of corporate responsibility across a company and empowers employees.
Third, companies that recognise the core strategic relevance of biodiversity may choose to adopt a deeper engagement with biodiversity through an integrated management approach. To date, it has mainly been companies from high impact sectors that recognise the business benefits of building trust, transparency and clear goals through long term, multi-stakeholder, company led biodiversity partnerships.
Every company has an impact on biodiversity and should respond to the challenge of biodiversity management. Often, as we all know, risks can also present opportunities.
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