Nature is Everyone's Business: A business and policy dialogue

Healthy societies, resilient economies and thriving businesses rely on nature. Ahead of the UN Biodiversity Summit, Business for Nature brought together business and government leaders to demonstrate momentum for nature and to identify ways to speed and scale business action at "Nature is Everyone's Business: A business and policy dialogue" as part of the SDG Business Forum, moderated by our own Eva Zabey.  

The session opened with keynote speeches from Mr. Cui Shuhong of China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and Shirley Trundle of the UK's Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. As hosts of the Convention on Biological Diversity's COP 15 in Kunming and UNFCCC COP26 in Glasgow, they emphasized the need for collaboration between business and governments to ensure an ambitious Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. 

We shared the 'Nature is Everyone’s Business' Call to Action through which more than 600 companies, with combined revenue of $4.1 trillion, are urging governments to adopt policies now to reverse nature loss in this decade. We were delighted to have two corporate signatories join us during the session - Mathias Vicherat, General Secretary of Danone, emphasized the central role of agriculture in tackling biodiversity loss and climate change, and Michael Koech, Environment and Climate Manager at Safaricom, discussed the need for governments to enact ambitious policies on forest protection. These business leaders were joined by Kiruben Naicker, Director of Information Management & The Science Policy Interface at the Government of South Africa, who highlighted the need for further collaboration with the private sector to facilitate resource mobilization, capacity building and innovation for nature. Kevin Moss, Chair of the Science-Based Targets Network Council, closed the session by announcing the new SBTN initial guidance, which provides a roadmap for companies to set science-based targets for nature. 

It was motivating to witness such powerful discussions on the themes of business and government collaboration to reverse nature loss in this decade, and the need for an ambitious Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. 

If you couldn’t make it to the live event, watch the full recording below.