The Business of Biodiversity

This highly accessible book introduces biodiversity as a clear and pressing priority for business and provides an up-to-date briefing on biodiversity issues and concerns for business, students and academics, NGOs, government and regulators, and other interested parties. It outlines practical ase studies from around the world to
demonstrate principles and consequences provides a guide for practical decision-making in business (and other organizations).

Biodiversity used to be an issue of high acknowledged importance, for example
following the Convention on Biological Diversity (introduced at the Rio Summit in 1992) and the UK's first Biodiversity Strategy shortly thereafter. Yet, despite subsequent global commitments to reversing the rate of species loss at the WSSD (Johannesburg 2002) later endorsed by the EU (the Gothenburg Target),
the key role of business in achieving a sustainable relationship with biodiversity has received little explicit attention over recent years.

The writing of this book was initially demand-led, through requests from large businesses requesting advice from the author (in his private consultancy role) on why
biodiversity is important and how to tackle it. The capacities of ecosystems to support continuing human wellbeing including economic viability has, over recent years, diminished in the business arena into more simplistic tools such as ISO140001 and
similar measures, while economic and social parameters have increased in profile. A renewed, focused exploration of the direct links between business and biodiversity in a changed and fast-changing world, including its implications and recommendations for
appropriate actions, sheds new light on the importance of addressing this crucial vector of sustainable development and suggests novel, self-beneficial responses for business.