Side Event

EFFECTIVE BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM POLICY AND REGULATION – BUSINESS INPUT TO THE CBD

Organizer
World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Date and Time
25 October 2010 13:15 - 14:45

Meeting
Tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 10)

In response to the emerging reality of natural resource limits, ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss, business must anticipate new and changing policies and regulatory frameworks to be developed and deployed by governments to address these pressing environmental challenges. However, business will not be able to fully deliver on its role as ecosystem stewards, at the scale needed, without environmental policies and regulation that: establish a level playing field; leverages market forces; sets realistic targets; is predictive, transparent, consistent and timetabled; creates appropriate incentives for sustainable use; and secures property and tenure rights. During the event the main findings and recommendations put forward in a new report on effective biodiversity and ecosystem policy and regulation, developed by The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), will be presented. The report is intended as a business contribution to the current debate around environment policy and regulatory reform. It provides practical and constructive advice from business to policy makers, but does not seek to restate all the scientific, economic or moral arguments for or against particular environmental policies and regulatory options. Rather it seeks to provide insights from a business perspective to achieve the greatest positive impact on biodiversity and ecosystems whilst minimizing economic and social costs and maximizing economic and social benefits.