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Leading companies respond to biodiversity loss by committing to the Action Agenda for Nature and People

Over 50 companies, including Guerlain Paris, Christian Dior Parfums, Yves Rocher and Martin Bauer Group, coordinated by the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT), have made a significant joint commitment to cultivate, collect or procure ingredients sustainably, to address biodiversity loss as their contribution to the Sharm El-Sheikh to Kunming Action Agenda for Nature and People.

The commitment sets time-bound targets for companies to improve their policies and practices – from on-the-ground action in farms and wild plant collection sites, to processing, research and development, manufacturing and procurement practices.   
The announcement comes at a pivotal time, as non-state actors show their contributions to the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, to be adopted at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP-15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Kunming, China in October 2021. The 196 Parties to the CBD are currently negotiating the components of the post 2020 framework. The adoption of the framework is an essential and urgent step in protecting biodiversity and will guide action on biodiversity for the next decade and beyond. 

“We are at a critical and decisive point in history, where all of society needs to reconnect to nature and contribute towards a shared vision of living in harmony with nature by 2050. Every actor, be they from society, government and the productive and financial sectors has a vital part to play in realizing this vision for the health of our planet and our future.  

We are delighted to profile the transformative commitments from the business sector on the Sharm El Sheikh to Kunming Action Agenda for Nature and People platform and to witness the momentum building in the business sector to assess impacts and dependencies on biodiversity, and set targets to improve and align actions in support of the post 2020 global biodiversity framework,” said Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, CBD Executive Secretary. 

 

The companies represent a variety of sectors and industries, including beauty and personal care, herbal infusions, natural pharmaceuticals and functional foods, and have revealed how it is in everyone’s best interest to take action. They have come together to stand for transformative change in business practices and inspire others to show their leadership and help resolve the biodiversity crisis.  

Collective commitments like this have the power to catalyze change, with the goal of bringing the interests of biodiversity and people into every business’ policies and practices.  

“Consumers are increasingly demanding that businesses demonstrate a genuine commitment to ethical sourcing. We at UEBT are so pleased to see more than 50 companies stand up for nature with this shared commitment. In the coming years we will be supporting these businesses in reaching their time-bound targets on the ground in farms and wild plant collection sites all over the world,” said Rik Kutsch Lojenga, Executive Director at UEBT. 

 

The CBD Secretariat is excited to welcome these transformative commitments to the Action Agenda. It is eager to see the changes in business practices and positive impacts on biodiversity that are to come. 

The UEBT both assesses and verifies companies’ commitments to biodiversity through annual monitoring and reporting. They update key performance indicators such as the total number of Biodiversity Action Plans implemented, the total number of supply chains in which conservation and sustainability measures are being taken, and the total number of ingredients from biodiversity verified or certified sources, in line with their UEBT Ethical BioTrade Standard. 

UEBT Signatories June 2021 2

 

Any non-state actor can make a commitment! Whether you are an individual, NGO, business, community, municipality, or other organization you can make a commitment to join the movement and help prevent biodiversity loss.

 

 

More information:

Press Release

Business and Biodiversity

Make a pledge to the Sharm El Sheikh to Kunming Action Agenda for Nature and People

 

Quotes from companies you may use:

Biodiversity has always been the cornerstone of our products at Parfums Christian Dior.  We want to be part of positive change, and part of the bigger agenda on biodiversity, not only preserving the flowers and plants we count on but also regenerating biodiversity and supporting communities. This commitment we are making today as part of UEBT will allow us to be more precise, more insightful and more forceful in actually bringing biodiversity to the next level.  We are embarking on this journey not only because this the right course of action, but it is also the only direction we can take.

For us, nature has been part of our company’s ethos for almost two hundred years Naturals by IFFs and we know we have to preserve our precious world for the next generations. These commitments we have made in line with other companies who are part of UEBT, focus on rigorous requirements about biodiversity.  We commit to continually seek to improve our sourcing of ingredients from the natural world.

The trends are unmistakable, and we must take positive action for biodiversity to protect it for current and future generations. Over much of the last year, policy makers around the globe have been working on the global plan to drive actions for the coming decade and more.  The private sector has been working hard as well, and through these commitments we are showing that we will be part of the solution, by putting global plans into practice in the areas where we source from nature for our products.

Both as a botanical company and citizens of this planet we are committed to protecting the environment and our most valuable resources. Officially committing to the Action Agenda for Nature and People is therefore a natural consequence.

Since our creation more than 20 years ago, CODIF has been involved in biodiversity protection using high-end technologies to minimize the pressure on wild marine resources by cultivating plants and seaweeds and sometimes re-introducing them to the wild.  Today, what is sometimes called ‘trendy’ is a need, a ‘must do’ – we all must work together on protecting our planet because even one species disappearing from the fragile equilibrium is one too many.  So being part of this agenda for nature and people was, for us, obvious.