Biodiversity: which challenges for industry? Achim Steiner Director General The World Conservation...

Biodiversity: which challenges for industry?

Achim SteinerDirector General

The World Conservation Union (IUCN)

International Environment ForumThe World Environment CentreIsland of Porquerolles, France

22-23 September 2005

The Red List Programme

The 2004 Red List contains 15,589 species threatened with extinction (CR, EN, VU)

Which species are in trouble?

Proportions threatened:

12% of birds 23% of mammals 32% of amphibians 25% of conifers 52% of cycads

84

8688

9092

94

9698

100

1988 1992 1996 2000 2004

Red

Lis

t Ind

ex (s

et to

100

in

1988

)

Neotropical

Afrotropical

Australasian/Oceanic

Palearctic

Nearctic

Indomalay

Wor

seBe

tter

The Red List Index for birds in different biogeographic Realms

2004 Global Amphibian AssessmentA third of the 5,743 known species are categorised as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable (IUCN criteria).

Fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis causes disease ‘chytridiomycosis’ which damages amphibian skins, blocking the passage of air and moisture. Other threats include viral diseases, habitat loss, drought, pollution, and hunting for food.

Calls to establish large-scale captive breeding programme. The cost of preserving amphibians from extinction may run into tens of millions of US dollars per year.

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Land Cover Change

Forest Fires in Portugal 2005

Flooding in Europe 2005

Drought in north Africa 2005

Biodiversity: which challenges for industry?

• Some Frontiers:

• Markets for Ecosystem Services?

• Biomimicry?

• Restorative Enterprises?

planet, as well as feed it.

Markets = ecosystem goods and services

Promoting Conservation and Advancing Community Livelihoods through Markets for Environmental Services.

The Katoomba Group seeks to address key challenges for developing markets for ecosystem services, from enabling legislation to establishing new market institutions, to developing strategies for pricing and marketing, and monitoring performance.

Abalone mussel -lightweight but fracture-resistant - tougher than anything we can manufacture!

Orb-weaver spider silk -  New fibre manufacturing technique

Barbs on weed seeds – best known biomimetic invention.

Cell membranes - Super filters- for desalination and chemical separation devices.

Leaves, chlorophyll and enzymes: the "photosynthetic reaction centers" - clues to energy chemistry

Hibernating bears - clues to fighting diabetes.

…..key elements of a new generation of enterprises will be radically different from those of our contemporary modern industrial economy…..

“Nature as a Model for Business”?

Our Vision: “To be the first company that, by its deeds, shows the entire industrial world what sustainability is in all its dimensions: People, process, product, place and profits — by 2020 — and in doing so we will become restorative through the power of influence.”

Our Mission: « ……We will honor the places where we do business by endeavoring to become the first name in industrial ecology, a corporation that cherishes nature and restores the environment. Interface will lead by example and validate by results, including profits, leaving the world a better place than when we began, and we will be restorative through the power of our influence in the world."

«  Restorative Enterprises »