World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), CH

This information paper outlines the priorities for business engagement in the CBD’s agenda post-2010. Furthermore, it is a call for the business and conservation communities (communities which overlap in many important areas) to devise a framework for collaboration that enhances conservation outcomes and ensures sustainable use and equitable benefit sharing in the next decade. The paper is aimed at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Parties to the Convention and businesses.

This information paper outlines the priorities for business engagement in the CBD’s agenda post-2010. Furthermore, it is a call for the business and conservation communities (communities which overlap in many important areas) to devise a framework for collaboration that enhances conservation outcomes and ensures sustainable use and equitable benefit sharing in the next decade. The paper is aimed at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Parties to the Convention and businesses.

Ecosystem valuation is a complex topic with extensive jargon and rapidly evolving techniques. Although a multitude of related guidelines already exist, none cater directly for the needs of business. As companies start to show an interest in CEV, it is therefore essential to provide an approach that they can follow and rely upon, that is accepted by planners and decisionmakers, and which has been developed through a process of close collaboration with businesses themselves. This is what this Guide to Corporate Ecosystem Valuation aims to do.

The rapid increase in food prices in many countries has led to substantial media attention on agriculture. We hope that providing this Facts and Trends publication will help uncover some key trade-offs that mean extremely challenging decisions for governments, farmers, consumers and industry. This publication does not attempt to cover everything there is to know about agricultural ecosystems. Rather it tries to present well-documented facts and figures to better understand the challenges facing the sustainable management of agricultural ecosystems.

All economies and businesses depend directly or indirectly on the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable supply of ecosystem services. This report, intended for the business and conservation communities, demonstrates the commonality of interests between the two sectors and seeks to establish a shared vision of market-based approaches to nature conservation.

This handbook provides information on the business case for biodiversity, as well as current biodiversity issues for business, and guidance on corporate biodiversity strategies. The current status of the debate is illustrated by specific case stories, thus providing an opportunity for companies to highlight their renewed commitment to an issue of high importance.

The Convention on biological diversity was drafted with in mind the conservation of the world's natural resources, their sustainable use and the equal sharing of their benefits. Among the primary utilisers of these natural resources is industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the food industry and many more.