18 October | ASSESS | Session 3 | 12.00 - 13.30 CET
Technology plays an important role in today's society. But how can it contribute to the Nature Positive agenda? And what is the potential for using technology for upscaling action for biodiversity? Open or semi-open source databases on environmental risks, opportunities and exposures exist but are not directly linking company value chains to the biodiversity impact data sets. The session explored the role of new technologies for improving biodiversity management and decision-making for business and finance and its potential role for nature conservation and restoration.
© Capitals Coalition
Dr. Hugo Rainey, Senior Advisor, Business & Conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society, presented on better biodiversity metrics for business - moving towards standardization. Nature Positive as a biodiversity target is dominating the airwaves as Net Zero is for climate. The Global Biodiversity Framework developing around the UN Biodiversity Conference (CoP15) in Montreal will set clearer targets for governments, business and investors. This has raised the profile of biodiversity as a core part of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risk for business. The challenge is that biodiversity is not carbon – it’s diverse! The question for business is how to select useful biodiversity indicators for development planning and reporting on progress. Good proxies of the drivers of biodiversity loss exist, such as the Human Footprint map and Forest Landscape Integrity Index. WCS integrated these approaches to map ecosystem priorities and integrity for a business-focused metric: Critical Ecosystem Area metric. WCS's novel approach captures the complexity of biodiversity risk and communicates it with clarity for better decision-making.
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