Welcome to the Business Engagement Programme

Business Collaboration in Achieving the Goals of the Convention of Biological Diversity

The need to engage businesses in achieving the objectives of the Convention was recognized by the Conference of the Parties at its eighth meeting, in Curitiba, Brazil, in 2006.

Decision VIII/17 foresaw the participation of businesses in various biodiversity meetings and their involvement in the development and implementation of national and international biodiversity strategies and action plans.

Subsequent decisions were taken to establish the conditions that facilitate private sector engagement. The decisions encouraged businesses to “adopt practices and strategies that contribute to achieving the goals and objectives of the Convention and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets."

This includes decisions to:

• Strengthen biodiversity consideration in business operations and promote behavioral change through “mainstreaming''

• Encourage enterprises to align investments, management, and procurement policies with the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

• Encourage businesses & support the establishment of the Global Partnership for Business and Biodiversity and other public/private partnerships to provide a platform to facilitate tool sharting, dialogue, and capacity building.

• Support the measurement and reporting of business impacts and dependencies to biodiversity by formalizing biodiversity impact reporting in their annual reports.

• Further encourage businesses to take into account individual supply chain activity, national priorities, and conditions when conducting biodiversity assessment.

• Promote business involvement in the development, revision, and implementation of national and international biodiversity strategies and action plans.
  
  For more information on previous COP Decisions, please visit: CBD COP Decisions.

  Activities

  The business programme undertakes additional activities, often in cooperation with partners.
  These collaborations are important in helping to raise awareness.
  Collaborations encourage the mainstreaming of biodiversity and ecosystem management into businesses.
  Specifically, some of the main activities include:
  • Outreach through various international, regional and national meetings and workshops

  • Organization of the Business and Biodiversity Forums

  • Development of the Global Partnership for Business and Biodiversity.

  • Publishing newsletters for the Global Partnership on Business and Biodiversity

  • Sharing Tools and Mechanisms as well as case studies

    Support

    The financial support of the European Union to the Business Engagement Programme is gratefully acknowledged.
    

Resources

Designed to provide and inform Parties to the Convention and stakeholders with timely and relevant information about business engagement activities, information, and tools:

	Meetings and Events These pages provide details of current CBD business meetings (agenda and other information) as well as a full record of previous meetings. In addition, a calendar of business and biodiversity - related events is available.
	Global Partnership for Business and Biodiversity This section is devoted to the Global Partnership for Business and Biodiversity. The pages outline the history and structure of this programme and provides links to the component national and regional initiatives.

	Projects and Major Issues These pages outline and provide support to several of the major business-related initiatives that the CBD Secretariat has been tasked with undertaking, including on Commodities, Reporting, the Business Case for the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, and Natural Capital.
	CBD and Business Engagement These pages provide an overview of the CBD's business engagement activities including links to previous business decisions and sections on related topics including Access and Benefits Sharing (ABS), and Biosafety.
	Business Case for Biodiversity These pages provide an overview of the business case for biodiversity, including a discussion of dependencies and impacts of business upon biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, and an assessment of risks and opportunities for business in this area.
	Database and Resources These pages contain a database of tools and mechanisms, case studies, and best practices designed to help businesses understand and mainstream biodiversity. Archives of the business.2020 newsletters, links to partners, and other items of interest are also available.