IUCN, Business and Biodiversity Programme

This report presents the main findings and recommendations of the IUCN-Niger Delta Panel, regarding the sustainable remediation and rehabilitation of oil spill impacted sites in the Niger Delta. It has been prepared for the Shell Petroleum Development Company Ltd of Nigeria (SPDC) and represents the Panel’s first year of work.

Governments, companies, banks and civil society are placing more emphasis on the rigorous application of the mitigation hierarchy to avoid, minimize and compensate for projects' impacts on biodiversity. The final step in the mitigation hierarchy sequence are biodiversity offsets to achieve No Net Loss (NNL) or Net Gain (NG). Thirty-nine countries have existing laws or policies on NNL/NG, biodiversity offsets or compensation, and twenty-two countries are developing them.

The goal of biodiversity offsets -- measurable conservation outcomes resulting from actions designed to compensate for significant residual adverse biodiversity impacts arising from project development after other appropriate prevention and mitigation measures have been taken -- is to achieve no net loss (or net gain) in biodiversity. This report assesses the conditions under which biodiversity offsets may provide the best outcomes for biodiversity and achieve no net loss.

This book is designed to help conservation organisations, community-based organisations and protected area managers plan and run effective ecotourism businesses. It was created as part of the Business Skills Transfer Programme for Ecotourism Development, a joint effort by IUCN and Kuoni Group aimed at supporting conservation organisations in managing ecotourism-related businesses through business skills, knowledge and experience sharing.

This Strategy aims to encourage transformational and demonstrable change at the company and sectoral level in how biodiversity is valued and managed by businesses in order to conserve and restore biodiversity and to ensure that biodiversity benefits are shared equitably.

This book is designed to help conservation organisations, community-based organisations and protected area managers plan and run effective ecotourism businesses. It was created as part of the Business Skills Transfer Programme for Ecotourism Development, a joint effort by IUCN and Kuoni Group aimed at supporting conservation organisations in managing ecotourism-related businesses through business skills, knowledge and experience sharing.