18 April 2018
Gland, Switzerland, 17 April 2018 – A roadmap for businesses operating in some of the most biologically significant places on the planet has been issued today by the Key Biodiversity Area Partnership involving 12 of the world’s leading conservation organisations – including IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The report, Guidelines on Business and KBAs: Managing Risk to Biodiversity outlines steps that businesses can take to actively safeguard biodiversity and avoid contributing to its loss. It recommends businesses of all sizes and across all sectors to adopt 15 guidelines to better manage their direct, indirect and cumulative impacts on places deemed critical for the conservation of species and ecosystems worldwide, known as Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs).
The report addresses issues such as avoidance of impacts, limits to biodiversity offsets, as well as financial guarantees and corporate reporting. It guides businesses in managing the potential losses and other risks associated with their negative impact on biodiversity, including potential impacts on access to financing and increased company exposure to negative press.
"If we act now to stop the degradation of key biodiversity sites and restore nature, we can save not just iconic threatened wildlife species globally, but secure our own survival as a species,” says Margaret Kinnaird, WWF Wildlife Practice Leader. “These new guidelines not only provide a chance for businesses to leave a positive mark on the resources they depend on to flourish but more importantly to be a part of a growing global movement to protect areas of important biodiversity.”
The report and associated website aims to help businesses demonstrate good environmental practice and compliance with voluntary sustainability standards or certification schemes. It also explains how companies operating in KBAs can make a positive contribution to biodiversity by investing in conservation actions and sharing relevant information about the KBAs, including data collected in Environmental Impact Assessments, baseline studies and monitoring activities, with the KBA Partners. Its aim is to assist governments in authorisation decisions related to business operations.
“These new guidelines will help businesses protect the most important natural places on our planet, and so preserve the natural resources they so strongly depend on,” said Inger Andersen, IUCN director general. “By managing their impacts on nature, businesses deliver positive conservation results, helping address the escalating crisis of biodiversity loss.”
Following the adoption in 2016 of a global standard for the identification of KBAs, the KBA Partnership was created to map, monitor and conserve the areas. More than 15,000 KBAs have been identified so far, many of which currently support commercial activities, such as farming, fisheries, forestry and mining. Although the global KBA network does not yet cover all geographical regions or species groups, the KBA Partnership is working to fill these gaps.
“For the first time the conservation community has come together to use standard criteria to identify the most important sites for conservation of species and habitats on the planet,” says Dr Andrew Plumptre, Head of the Key Biodiversity Areas Secretariat. “Ideally, businesses and governments should avoid any harmful activities at these sites. However, if developments are to go ahead, then this report provides crucial advice on how to minimise negative impacts on the species and habitats for which KBAs are important.”