Third Business and the 2010 Biodiversity Challenge Conference

30 November - 2 December 2009, Jakarta Indonesia
Gran Meliá Jakarta

The Third Business and the 2010 Biodiversity Challenge Conference, in conjunction with the UNEP Business and Industry Global Dialogue, will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia from 30 November to the 2 December 2009. In accordance with decision IX/26 adopted by the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, the CBD Business and the 2010 Biodiversity Challenge Conference aims to strengthen business participation in CBD processes. Following up on the first and second Business and the Biodiversity Challenge meetings, held in 2005 in London and Brazil respectively, this third meeting will build upon the previous outcomes and provide input into the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to be held in Nagoya, Japan on 19-29 October 2010.

With financial support from the Netherlands and UNEP, the conference is being convened by the CBD secretariat in collaboration with UNEP’s Business & Industry Global Dialogue. The conference will be followed by a one-day informal dialogue on Business and Access and Benefit Sharing convened by the secretariat in collaboration with the United Nations University from 2nd afternoon to 3rd December morning at the same venue.

The overall objective of the Jakarta event is to effectively engage the private sector in addressing biodiversity by stressing the link between biodiversity and core business and by highlighting best case practices, including life cycle approaches and incentive mechanisms. By emphasizing existing efforts underway, the event will explore ways to scale-up business engagement on biodiversity issues and develop recommendations on collaborative actions that can be undertaken.

Specific objectives include:

• To provide stakeholders a discussion platform for raising awareness, collecting feedback and supporting ongoing initiatives, to better engage the private sector in biodiversity related efforts.
• To provide CBD with private sector focused inputs to inform the COP 10.
• To provide UNEP DTIE with private sector focused inputs on biodiversity to feed into the GMEF.
• To identify opportunities for key partnerships or international initiatives between the business community and biodiversity organizations that would further support mainstreaming.
• Establish an informal dialogue on Business and Access and benefit sharing