Messages for Business from Congress

The 2012 Congress was a milestone for business as it was the first Congress where there has been a significant focus on the role of business in developing and implementing Nature + solutions.

The outputs from various workshops and dialogues as well as the Members’ Assembly have signalled clear areas where change has happened, areas where progress has already been made and areas where there is need for action.

The Bonn Challenge approaches 50 million hectares mark!

The global movement to restore 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2020 – known as the “Bonn Challenge” – gained further momentum at the December UN Climate Talks in Doha, as Costa Rica and El Salvador each commit up to1 million hectares.

WBCSD in the field with The Forest Dialogue

This November, working with stakeholders from business, research, government, environment and social sectors, The Forests Dialogue (TFD) - an independent, multi-stakeholder dialogue platform and process hosted at Yale University - held its first dialogue in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, considering landscape level public policy, business and biodiversity challenges and solutions.

Sustainable Sugarcane for Sustainable Biofuels

IUCN, Shell and Joint Venture (JV) Raizen recently piloted an initiative to assess conservation-related implementation and impacts of the Bonsucro standards for sugarcane-based ethanol production in Brazil.

Ecosystem science matters for business

IUCN and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) recently issued a briefing on business and biodiversity science, which highlights a variety of interactions and opportunities, as well as the current lack of synergies. A new intergovernmental process has been launched to become a clearinghouse for this data. It is the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) which will influence the way data will be produced and used in the public sphere.

Dr Thomas Brooks

We pose three questions to Tom Brooks, IUCN's new Head – Science and Knowledge Management, in the Global Policy and Programme Group (PPG).
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Nature resilience: organizing ecological restoration by partners in business for next generations

This paper proposes the creation of an international mechanism for creating collaborative partnerships between stakeholders such as scientists, NGOs, governments and foundations and the business community.
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Business and the EU Biodiversity Newsletter

The EU Business @ Biodiversity Platform was launched three years ago in order to facilitate and promote actions by the business community in favour of biodiversity. The project has come to an end and this is the last newsletter you will be receiving from the Platform.
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Planning for biodiversity action in Vietnam

In early October, IUCN and Holcim Vietnam co-convened a workshop to review and finalize the Biodiversity Action Plan recommendations for Holcim’s Hon Chong plant in Kien Giang Province, Southern Vietnam.
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21-26 January

IPBES-1
The first meeting of the Plenary of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES-1) Bonne, Germany

05-06 February

Leaders for Nature
Scherpenzeel, Netherlands

IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) © 2012

IUCN helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges. It supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world and brings governments, non-government organizations, United Nations agencies, companies and local communities together to develop and implement policy, laws and best practice.

Photo credits: Header © Revensis, Message from Business © Daniel Marker; Bonn Challenge © Jean-Philippe Palasi; TFD Workshop © WBCSD Sugarcane © flickr.com/photos/innoxiuss/442836237/ ; Forest © IUCN; Tom Brooks © Tom Brooks; Holcim © Maria Ana Borges