Business management

The overarching objective of this framework is to contribute to the integration of biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) into business activities and to firmly position BES conservation among the private sector by engaging the top management of companies in the development, implementation and disclosure of BES policies and practices, in order to reduce risks, manage related impacts and seize opportunities.

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.

One of the pre-requisites in the process of putting in place the Kikuletwa Catchment Forum is development of training materials to be used for Training of Trainers (TOT) programme covering topics in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), entrepreneurships; community participation; gender and other cross cutting issues relating to WRM, climate change and adaptation strategies and the contribution of water resources in poverty reduction.

This report outlines the advances made by IUCN's Global Business and Biodiversity Programme in working with business to further global conservation goals — from helping develop Holcim’s Biodiversity Management System to bringing the business voice to CBD negotiations. IUCN also scaled up its influence with the private sector through new engagements with Nespresso, Rio Tinto and Tata Steel Thailand.

This document is a proposal to Holcim Ltd. to establish a Biodiversity Management System (BMS) for its worldwide operations and to implement it in a consistent and professional manner, by creating the necessary instruments and making appropriate provisions to integrate biodiversity considerations into policy, strategic and operational processes.

This report is planned to be a useful advisory tool for local and regional policymakers, administrators and managers. The information in this report will also be of interest to organisations such as NGOs, regulatory bodies, permitting agencies and the judicial system. It explores and gives practical guidance on how to deal with the challenge of biodiversity loss at a local and regional level.

The TEEB study is underpinned by an assessment of state-of-the-art science and economics. The goal is to provide the conceptual foundation to link economics and ecology and to posit a paradigm of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services. This aspect of the study tackles the challenges of valuing ecosystem services, as well as issues related to economic discounting.

This publication is the executive summary for a full report which demonstrates the value of ecosystems and biodiversity to the economy, to society and to individuals. It underlines the urgency of action, as well as the benefits and opportunities that will arise as a result of taking such action. The report shows that the cost of sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem services is lower than the cost of allowing biodiversity and ecosystem services to dwindle.

A profound retrospective of the first decade of the UN Global Compact, challenges in the light of the year of biodiversity, and instruments for an adequate Corporate Citizenship are some of the issues highlighted in the new 2010 edition of the Global Compact International Yearbook. One chapter is entirely devoted to biodiversity.

This TEEB report presents a sub-set of early conclusions which relate to climate change. Although a fuller report on these issues was to be released in late 2009, this shorter version was released in preparation for the climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009, and includes the climate-related conclusions and recommendations generated for policy-makers, negotiators and the general public.