The Sustainable Food Systems Programme

AJE Group nació como una pequeña empresa familiar en Ayacucho, Perú y hoy es una de las mayores corporaciones peruanas con operaciones en 11 países y un éxito que da trabajo a más de 10,000 familias. AJE se dedica a fabricar y comercializar una gran variedad de bebidas, como cervezas, refrescos, bebidas energéticas, bebidas isotónicas, aguas, jugos y tés. Dentro del modelo la conservación de la biodiversidad o “oro verde” en beneficio de las comunidades es un eje central, reforzando la protección del bosque como parte intrínseca de la recolección de los frutos que componen los distintos productos de la empresa.

“Es importante impulsar una economía de mercado a través de lo que los habitantes del territorio saben hacer: proteger el bosque y recolectar los frutos.“

Target 15 of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework recognizes the importance of the private sector monitoring, assessing and disclosing biodiversity-related risks, dependencies and impacts. Many businesses and financial institutions are progressing with science-based assessments, targets and disclosures and integrating into strategy, risk management and capital allocation decisions. Developments will continue in response to investor expectations, emerging corporate sustainability reporting regulations in Europe, China and elsewhere and evolving global sustainability reporting standards. Voluntary action is also being encouraged by the disclosure recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and the target-setting methods of the Science Based Targets Network. Based on experience supporting the private sector in practice, we identify four critical science and technical advances needed to enable business action at scale and to redirect finance globally to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. First, consensus on indicators and metrics for measuring changes in the state of nature and provision of ecosystem services. Second, access to global, regularly updated, location-specific and consistent nature data. Third, standardized and consistent accounting systems that structure data, support risk management and create accountability at corporate, ecosystem and national levels. Fourth, integrated risk assessment approaches to help corporates, financial institutions, central banks and supervisors to assess nature-related risks.

This article is part of the discussion meeting issue ‘Bending the curve towards nature recovery: building on Georgina Mace’s legacy for a biodiverse future’.

 Industries such as mining, forestry, and oil and gas have been trying for years to minimise their environmental and social impacts, but there is a growing expectation from civil society, regulators and investors that companies not only ‘do no harm’, but also make a positive contribution to the environment and society.

In many companies, projects follow procedures to avoid or minimise biodiversity impacts and restore biodiversity or offset impacts when these are unavoidable. This framework, known as the mitigation hierarchy, is increasingly used by companies and governments to improve environmental management and contribute to a net positive impact (NPI) or biodiversity net gain (BNG).

Following a NPI commitment by the mining company Rio Tinto, IUCN worked with the company to develop and trial a review protocol that could track its progress towards reaching NPI at an operational level. This protocol was tested at Rio Tinto operations in Australia, Mongolia and Madagascar.

Growth corridors are regions where natural resource-based industries, such as agriculture and mining, are being developed to boost economic growth. SUSTAIN (Sustainability and Inclusion Strategy for Growth Corridors), an IUCN-led initiative, aims to shape the investment and design of these corridors so that they are environmentally and socially sustainable.

Located in a vast floodplain, Tanzania’s Kilombero district hosts wetlands, waterfalls and iconic wildlife species, such as elephant, hippo, antelope and lion. The mountain rainforests are a vital water source  for the surrounding area and its economy. As part of SUSTAIN, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is working with one of Tanzania’s biggest rice producers, valley farmers and mountain villages in Kilombero to increase agricultural productivity while conserving forests, water sources and wildlife at a coordinated landscape level. A pillar of the programme is a payment for ecosystems services (PES) scheme.

The DDCR has implemented a nature-based tourism offering in partnership with seven tour operators which allows over 250,000 visitors to the protected area on an annual basis. Effective planning and implementation of a zonation plan ensure environmental sustainability by limiting areas of environmental impact. Furthermore, each tour operator has an individual route ensuring a premium experience of wildlife in a pristine desert landscape as well as greatly enhancing safety for the visitor.

All visitors to the DDCR pay entrance fees, through the tour operators, which is used exclusively for the management and research requirements of the protected area.

The Biological Diversity Protocol (BD Protocol) provides companies with a standardised accounting and reporting framework to consolidate their biodiversity impact data across value chains and jurisdictions. The BD Protocol assists companies to develop their biodiversity impact inventory and the associated Statements of  Biodiversity Position and Performance from site or project management to disclosure.

The BD Protocol is an output of the Biodiversity Disclosure Project (BDP), an effort spearheaded by the National Biodiversity and Business Network (NBBN) of South Africa and managed by the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders. The BD Protocol aims to support existing impact measurement approaches so that biodiversity impact disclosure becomes comparable across industries and companies.