Advertisement
The View | Pressure is on for Asian businesses to protect region’s biodiversity
- Much like carbon emissions, companies will soon be expected to monitor their impact on biodiversity
- Measures to promote and preserve biodiversity will need to go beyond greenwashing practices like pledges to plant trees
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Many scientists believe we are in the middle of a mass extinction event – only the sixth in earth’s geological history. Around 1 million species worldwide are expected to die out unless we can reduce the pressure we are putting on nature.
Advertisement
Asia is ground zero for efforts to stop the extinction crisis. Southeast Asia alone has around one-fifth of all plant and animal species, while China is one of the world’s largest markets for wildlife products.
Directly and indirectly, the effects of our economic activity – from pollution to land-use change to climate change – are responsible for the threats to about 80 per cent of at-risk species. But our economy relies on nature too, with more than half of global GDP coming from sectors that are moderately or highly dependent on natural resources.
As a result, there is a growing consensus that businesses urgently need to take stock of the effects of their operations on nature and biodiversity. At the COP15 biodiversity summit in December, almost 200 countries agreed on a plan to reverse nature loss by protecting at least 30 per cent of land and water ecosystems by 2030. The agreement has been described as a “Paris moment” for biodiversity.
Momentum is growing among financial regulators, as well. The Network for Greening the Financial System, an association of with members from some 95 central banks, has concluded that biodiversity loss presents a risk to financial stability, and proposed that biodiversity-related recommendations be incorporated into monetary policy.
Advertisement
Given the accelerating pace of nature and biodiversity loss, reversing that trend will take serious and concerted action from stakeholders in all sectors. Businesses should start preparing for a world where impact on biodiversity will be scrutinised as closely as corporate emissions are today.
Advertisement