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A message from the IUCN Director of Business and Biodiversity Programme        

Dear colleagues,

While we are still in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, IUCN remains committed to achieving its conservation goals. At the same time, the pandemic is making clear the links between our planetary health and human well-being. The upcoming Building Business Resilience virtual forum, hosted by Business for Nature, IUCN and the world’s largest business associations, will reflect on these challenging times and explore how we can ‘build back better’. IUCN's Acting DG echoed this imperative in her World Environment Day message. This Building Bridges edition highlights recent developments and upcoming events aimed at accelerating business engagement in the transition to a sustainable future. If you would like more information about IUCN's work, please contact me, and  follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

Best regards and stay safe,

Gerard Bos
 
IUCN backs Building Business Resilience event on 15 June
 

As reported earlier, IUCN, in close consultation with the French Government, has postponed the IUCN World Conservation Congress and CEO Summit , which were originally scheduled to be held this week. The new dates are 7-15 January 2021, in Marseille, France.

In the meantime, on 15 June, Business for Nature, together with IUCN and the world’s leading business organisations -- International Chamber of Commerce, UN Global Compact, World Business Council for Sustainable Development and World Economic Forum -- will bring together senior business leaders to discuss the interrelated emergencies of nature, climate, health and people. Hosted by Paul Polman and Tian Wei, Building Business Resilience: How collective leadership will reverse nature loss will feature a range of companies that are including nature in their decision-making. 

Read more and register for the event here.
 
New paper highlights interlinkages between human health and healthy ecosystems

A more integrated approach to health and environment – one that addresses both historical and new challenges following the tailings dam collapse in the state of Minas Gerais -- is urgently needed to restore Brazil’s Rio Doce watershed and its affected communities, according to a new paper by the Rio Doce Panel. The paper finds that the integration of human and ecosystem health systems has the potential to be more sustainable over time and help promote the prevention of diseases as well as nature conservation.

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Protect sport by taking care of biodiversity, says new IUCN guide supported by the IOC

The new guide, "Mitigating biodiversity impacts of sports events,” offers advice to sports event organisers on how to reduce the impact on biodiversity and promote conservation throughout all phases of event planning. “A healthy environment is essential to successful sports events as it is to society at large,” said IUCN Acting Director General, Dr Grethel Aguilar. This is the third guide in a series on Sport and Biodiversity, which have been produced as part of the IUCN partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

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Business collaboration is key to building a healthier future

“As governments struggle to contain the covid-19 virus, the private sector is playing a crucial role to help meet the overwhelming demands being placed on our systems, writes IUCN’s Gerard Bos.

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Biodiversity offsetting requires lots of land

This guest blog by Laura Sonter, Jeremy Simmonds, James Watson and Martine Maron examines why avoiding impacts is a better solution to achieving No Net Loss of natural ecosystems.

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Thai companies endorse new approaches and partnerships to restore country’s forests

Thailand’s forest cover has declined by over 40% since 1961, with deforestation and land degradation negatively affecting agricultural productivity, water quality, biodiversity, climate regulation and livelihoods. In April, over 40 leading companies met to discuss new approaches for sustainably managing and restoring the country’s forests. Hosted by IUCN, the UN Forum on Forests and Royal Forest Department, the meeting showcased examples of private sector-led sustainable forest management and forest landscape restoration, and recommended developing a framework to enable private-sector investments and new partnerships. Read more
 
First-ever guidelines to measure plastic leakage across value chains launched

The first-ever science-based methodology to map and measure plastic leakage across corporate value chains, were recently launched by Quantis and the ecodesign firm EA, with 35 organisations, including IUCN. Developed thorugh a multi-stakeholder process, the Plastic Leak Project (PLP) Guidelines provide a framework for understanding where and how much leakage is occurring, and lay a strong foundation for the creation of impactful strategies and actions to effectively address plastic pollution and mitigate key business risks. Listen to the webinar introducing the new guidelines. 

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IUCN survey now open for NGOs interested in engaging business

The conservation community has an important role to play in influencing business to safeguard people and nature. To help guide IUCN’s efforts and tailor future capacity building on business engagement, IUCN Members and partners are invited to participate in this new survey, which will be open until the end of June.

In addition, a new online BioBiz Exchange Resource Guide is now available for NGOs interested in developing their engagement with business. It provides guidance, tools and case studies as well as a new platform to share experiences.

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Other major events
SwissBiz4Nature workshop focuses on biodiversity opportunities

IUCN recently hosted a  SwissBiz4Nature workshop with nearly 40 representatives from Swiss-based companies, the  government and national NGOs. The group shared information on biodiversity corporate biodiversity performance and reporting. In addition, they identified actions for engaging in the IUCN Congress and Post-2020 biodiversity framework, which will be finalised at the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2021.

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Join the next BioBiz-Panorama webinar

How can civil society advance biodiversity action through business platforms? IUCN will unpack this topic on the next PANORAMA webinar, Thursday, 25 June, from 14:00-15:00 CEST. The webinar will review a  host of cases studies, including insights on success factors to establish and maintain effective networks from stakeholders in South Africa, Sri Lanka, and France. To participate, register here.  

This is one in a series of quarterly webinars.   

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African Forum on Green Economy series

The African Forum on Green Economy is hosting an online exchange exploring how African countries are leading the way to greener, fairer economies by investing in natural capital. Speakers from IUCN and other organisations are participating in themed discussions on agriculture, infrastructure and finance.  The next session, Data and Decision Making, will be on 17 June at 12:00 (EAT). Then, the final session in the series will focus on Enabling Change on 1 July at 16:00 (EAT).   

Register now

Photo credits: Business for Nature; RDP event - Rio Doce Panel; Sport and Biodiversity guide - World Rowing Federation; oil palm - Ryan Woo/CIFOR; Thai WH site - Josephine Green; Plastic Leak Project Quantis; civil society - Nadine McCormick/IUCN; BioBiz webinar - IUCN India; and Green Economy African Forum.

For more information, visit the IUCN Business and Biodiversity Programme website or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn