{"id":27588,"date":"2024-04-22T14:04:11","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T13:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/?post_type=article&p=27588"},"modified":"2024-04-22T16:17:15","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T15:17:15","slug":"nature-and-biodiversity-the-next-imperative","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.argonandco.com\/en\/news-insights\/articles\/nature-and-biodiversity-the-next-imperative\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature and biodiversity: the next imperative"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reflecting on a recent trip to Paris to attend the ChangeNOW sustainability conference, one of the major themes (and key differences to previous years) was the shift in focus from \u2018the climate crisis\u2019 to \u2018the biodiversity crisis\u2019. The message was not that decarbonisation is no longer important, far from it, but instead that individuals and businesses must start looking beyond greenhouse gases and carbon footprints and consider their impacts and dependencies on nature too.<\/p>\n

In this article we explore why biodiversity and nature is such an important topic, the unique challenges in this space and what steps businesses can take to start monitoring and reducing their impacts.<\/p>\n

A crucial role in our lives and our economy<\/h2>\n

According to the WWF, the term \u2018biodiversity\u2019 refers to the variety of living species on earth and the level of biodiversity is maintained through ecosystems, where different species and microorganisms work together to maintain balance and support life.<\/p>\n

Human activities, such as urbanisation, deforestation, chemical pesticide usage and fishing, are significantly impacting global biodiversity, leading to its erosion 100 to 1000 times faster than through natural processes. According to the IPBES, 75% of animal species are predicted to disappear in the next few centuries if we don\u2019t take action.<\/p>\n

Beyond the preservation of species for preservation\u2019s sake, there are also strong human and economic arguments for preventing and reversing biodiversity loss. It is estimated that half of global GDP is reliant on nature and 80% of food crops depend upon pollination, making it essential for life as we know it, but at the same time food production is estimated to be responsible for half of all biodiversity loss. Even in healthcare, 60% of cancer drugs originate from natural sources, underscoring the importance of biodiversity in medical breakthroughs.<\/p>\n

All things considered, it is almost guaranteed that every individual and business has an impact on biodiversity somewhere in their value chain, and therefore everyone has a role to play in reducing their impact.<\/p>\n

The challenge of measuring biodiversity impacts: no current \u2018one size fits all\u2019 solution<\/h2>\n

For many businesses, understanding biodiversity impact is a relatively new area of focus, following on the heels of carbon emission assessments and decarbonisation plans developed over the last five to ten years. This has benefits, in that environmental issues and externalities of the business should have already been understood, there may already be dedicated teams and resources in place, and ESG performance may be built into the business\u2019 performance metrics. However, although many will not be starting from scratch, tackling biodiversity cannot be a lift-and-shift approach based on carbon, as there are some key differences.<\/p>\n

Unlike with greenhouse gases, there is not a single indicator that represents biodiversity. Though many have tried, there is unlikely to be a consensus on a meaningful single metric any time soon.<\/p>\n

This means that businesses must define how best to measure biodiversity impact for their operations, asking: what are their most significant risk areas, what indicators best quantify those, how many different indicators are needed and how do we practically measure them.<\/p>\n

As a starting point, at least one KPI should be established for each of the IPBES\u2019s five direct drivers of biodiversity loss:<\/p>\n