Call for nominations of experts to assist with the scoping of a methodological assessment of business and biodiversity

Dear IPBES members, observers and other interested stakeholders,

The IPBES Plenary, in decision IPBES-7/1, adopted the rolling work programme of IPBES up to 2030 (set out in annex I to decision IPBES-7/1), which includes under its first objective a methodological assessment of the impact and dependence of business on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people (“business and biodiversity assessment”).

This assessment is aimed at categorizing how businesses depend on, and impact, biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people and at identifying criteria and indicators for measuring that dependence and impact, taking into consideration how such metrics can be integrated into other aspects of sustainability.  For more detailed information please see the initial scoping report set out in document IPBES/7/6 (appendix II, section IV) and reproduced in the annex to this letter.

The Multidisciplinary Expert Panel (MEP) invites Governments and other stakeholders to nominate relevant experts to assist with the scoping of this assessment.

The scoping process will be conducted in line with the procedures for IPBES deliverables set out in decision IPBES-3/3, annex I (available here) and based on the initial scoping report annexed to this letter.

IPBES is seeking experts and practitioners with expertise in impact and dependency on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people of different economic sectors such as forestry, agriculture and fisheries, water, tourism, energy and mining, built environment and infrastructure, manufacturing and processing, health and financial institutions.  Experts are sought from a diversity of backgrounds including academic, business and industry, and a diversity of disciplines, expertise and domains including knowledge of environmental accounting, corporate social responsibility, environmental justice, value and supply chains, indicators, monitoring and disclosure, and ecology.

All nominated experts (Nominees) need to be available to attend the scoping meeting that is part of the scoping process, tentatively scheduled for 26-30 April 2021.

All Governments and relevant organizations or institutions are encouraged to submit nominations. Organizations or institutions wishing to nominate are not required to have the status of an observer to the Plenary of IPBES to make a nomination. Please help us to disseminate this call for nominations of experts widely.

Please follow this procedure for nomination:

• Nominees are invited to fill out the application form and attach their curriculum vitae through the dedicated web portal at https://ipbes.net/application/scoping-of-a-methodological-assessment-of-business-and-biodiversity (to access this page you will need to log in with your IPBES web site log in credentials. Nominees not yet registered on the IPBES web site will need to do so at https://ipbes.net/user/register). Please note that the nomination form is in English only and applications should be submitted in English, as the assessment process will be conducted in English;
•  The nominating Government or organization (Nominator) indicated by the Nominee will receive an email with a link to the nomination form and will be invited to approve and submit the nominations in the web portal;
• Nominators and Nominees will receive a confirmation via email once the nomination has been duly submitted.

Interested experts wishing to be nominated by a Government are encouraged to contact their IPBES National Focal Point (https://www.ipbes.net/national-focal-points) regarding any country-specific processes or deadlines and are requested to fill out their application form by 25 January 2021.

Nominators (Governments or organizations) should approve the applications and submit their nominations by 1 February 2021. Early nominations ahead of the deadline are encouraged.

I thank you in advance for your nominations and your continued support to IPBES.

Dr Anne Larigauderie | Executive Secretary
Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

Annex

IV.    Deliverable 1 (d): Assessing the impact and dependence of business on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people (methodological assessment)

28.          Key economic sectors, such a forestry, agriculture and fisheries, tourism, energy and mining, infrastructure and manufacturing and processing, depend on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people in various ways and to varying extents. These sectors also have a range of positive and negative impacts on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people. Appropriate tools for measuring dependence and impact are crucial to enabling businesses to assess and monitor their dependence and impact with a view to reducing adverse impacts and related material and reputational risks, and to developing the business case for long-term sustainability. They are also important for promoting public accountability, informing regulatory agencies and guiding financial investments.

29.          Engagement of businesses in efforts to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and related nature’s contributions to people is essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and realizing the 2050 vision for biodiversity and the targets of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. Many companies (private and public), industry associations and investors wish to reduce the adverse impacts on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people associated with their activities, but require reliable and relevant definitions, criteria, indicators and other tools to do so. Initiatives have emerged to support reporting on environmental performance and much progress has been made in certain areas related to greenhouse gas emissions, water use, other material flows and land use (including avoidance of direct impacts in certain protected areas and other areas of high conservation value). There are numerous gaps, however, including with respect to assessing the broader impact on biodiversity, the cumulative impact and the indirect impact that occurs through supply chains, trade or substitution effects (telecoupling), as well as dependence on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people more generally.

30.          Consistency in reporting impact is a prerequisite for comparisons over time, as well as for comparisons among various actors and activities. Validated, standardized criteria, metrics and indicators also facilitate efficient, transparent and just environmental governance, through, for instance, target-setting and regulations that stimulate ecologically friendly innovations and the decoupling of environmental pressures from growth in output. Consistency might also be useful for detecting leverage points in production and extraction, as well as for detecting where the greatest environmental gains can be achieved in a system perspective.

31.          The assessment will focus on identifying:

(a)           Categories of business dependence on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people, the materiality of that dependence and implications for risk management;

(b)           Categories of business impact on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people, both direct (land-use change and other habitat changes, including through fragmentation, water degradation and extraction, overexploitation, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and increased risk of invasive alien species) and indirect (e.g., through trade, indirect land-use change or other substitution effects and other aspects of telecoupling, including those mediated through supply chains), the materiality of the impact and implications for risk management;

(c)           Criteria and indicators for measuring business dependence on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people;

(d)           Criteria and indicators for measuring the impact of business activities on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people;

(e)           Ways to integrate criteria and indicators for measuring business dependence and impact into other aspects of sustainability;

(f)            Approaches to monitoring and reporting by individual entities and reporting initiatives.

32.          The assessment will examine the challenges related to levels of aggregation of various types of businesses and scalability and comparability between regions and across sectors.

33.          The assessment will include a review of academic literature and of relevant reports prepared by existing reporting initiatives and public and private entities, including selected companies and industry associations.

34.          The assessment will be global in scope and will address issues related to the world’s major productive sectors. Regional adaptions and applications will also be considered.

35.          The assessment is directly relevant to the work of the Convention on Biological Diversity and to a number of initiatives and organizations dealing with productive sectors, including United Nations initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact, the One Planet Network, the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, various initiatives undertaken by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Forum on Forests, the World Tourism Organization, as well as networks and initiatives of civil society and the private sector, such as Proteus (a collaboration between leading extractives companies and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre) and the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative.

36.          The assessment will provide scientific evidence directly relevant to multiple Sustainable Development Goals but is specifically closely related to Sustainable Development Goals 9 (build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation), 12 (ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns, i.e., issues of production and efficient use of natural resources), 14 (life below water) and 15 (life on land).

37.          The proposed assessment demands a highly interdisciplinary team of experts, as both biophysical aspects related to various sectors with different impacts and ways of managing and accounting will be considered. Key expertise is needed in accounting, ecology, soil science, agriculture, forestry, tourism, mining, engineering, business management and organization.

38.          The assessment will be carried out as a fast-track assessment over a two-year period.