
27 Jan Five Years to Reverse Biodiversity Loss
How is your business getting on?
Two years ago, a historic plan for nature was finalised to the cheers of the delegates attending the Convention on Biological Diversity COP15 in Montreal. The UN Biodiversity Plan was presented as the “last chance” to put nature on a path to recovery.
The Plan sets out ambitious yet achievable objectives to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 through actions like:
- increasing the world’s protected areas to 30% of the planet;
- safeguarding vital ecosystems from rainforests to wetlands;
- requiring both public and private sectors to play an active role.
Achieving the Targets
These goals, and the Plan’s 23 concrete Targets, are gradually being adopted at national level. This is resulting in numerous national and regional laws (e.g. CSRD and CSDDD in the EU) requiring businesses, in particular, to disclose all their material nature risks and their progress in reducing them.
This is a daunting task for many businesses, particularly when most have previously only considered the UN SDGs and carbon emissions. Even now, some business professionals select only one or two of the 17 SDGs – irrespective of how much their operations contribute to them.
In my opinion, the basic premise of sustainability has never really been understood and consequently the whole enterprise has never been taken seriously. This needs to change – and urgently – by putting nature at the heart of sustainability.
The Key to Success
This is exactly what ANIMONDIAL has achieved through working with the Travel & Tourism sector. The resulting approach (“Nature Positive Tourism”) still encourages businesses to act sustainably, but emphasises the importance of understanding their greatest impacts on nature first. This includes understanding what those impacts are, what causes them, and, crucially, where those impacts take place.
This information should dictate where mitigation actions will be directed – which may be in the supply chain rather than in the core business activities. In addition, Travel & Tourism businesses are encouraged to seek out opportunities to invest in nature conservation priorities in their destinations – ultimately supporting their own long-term business interests.
Nature is under serious threat. Wildlife abundance is in rapid decline, and 1 in 4 wildlife species are facing extinction (Living Planet Report). This is causing the degradation of nature, which is eroding its ability to provide the natural materials and ecosystem services on which we rely. Losing nature and its biodiversity means less freshwater, clean air, food and natural resources – so hopefully you can see why we must all do what we can to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030!
There are FIVE years to go to, and ANIMONDIAL is dedicating itself to providing Travel & Tourism businesses with the help they need in FIVE key areas:
- Scope out your operations. Consider your value and supply chains and who you work with.
- Assess core business impacts on nature. Consider all drivers of biodiversity loss, as some may be more relevant to your business than others. Don’t forget your supply chain. Check out our NATOUR IMPACT online tool, offering Travel & Tourism businesses to identify their nature risks and priority actions.
- Commit to adopting measures and targeted actions to reduce or avoid nature risks that are affecting the resilience of your business.
- Transform your operations by progressively reducing your impacts. Focus on your greatest impacts first. This will require C-suite buy-in and often upskilling of staff, partners and suppliers. Fortunately, ANIMONDIAL has created a Biodiversity Literacy Training with Manchester Metropolitan University, which is a great starting place for Travel & Tourism professionals.
- Restore biodiversity in those locations where your impacts are the greatest. Understanding everything that we do impacts nature, we must seek opportunities to invest in robust and effective biodiversity-enhancing actions.
Our Special Role
ANIMONDIAL was established to support Travel & Tourism businesses and guide sector transformation to become a force for good. We also hope to inspire businesses from other sectors to follow this same approach, with the understanding that their activities will likely have different nature risks.
By putting nature at the heart of sustainability we believe that businesses will recognise its importance and understand what they need to do. But that needs to happen soon. If we are going to turn things around in the next five years, we need to start now!
Daniel Turner, Director of Strategy
Find Out More …
Check out the Business for Nature ‘Sector Actions’ for insights into your specific nature-related dependencies and impacts, and risks and opportunities – in particular the ‘Travel & Tourism’ guide which was prepared by our own Daniel Turner.
For a thorough understanding of your business’ nature risks, take our NATOUR IMPACT online assessment. We will walk you through the process and provide you with a detailed report including practical next steps. Just book in a call to find out how …