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Posted On: 03/12/2008

Companies respond to ecosystem degradation

PlantServices.com

Global warming may dominate headlines today. Ecosystem degradation will do so tomorrow. To prepare businesses for this new landscape, three organizations have launched a set of guidelines designed to help companies proactively develop strategies to manage risks and opportunities arising from ecosystem degradation.
         
The guidelines, titled the “Corporate Ecosystem Services Review,” were developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in collaboration with the Meridian Institute and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Five WBCSD members – Akzo Nobel, BC Hydro, Mondi, Rio Tinto and Syngenta – road-tested the methodology and provided input to its design.
 
Ecosystems provide companies with a variety of benefits and services, including fresh water, wood, pollination, climate regulation and protection from natural hazards, to name a few.

“Ecosystem services are often unacknowledged, yet they underpin many corporate activities,” said John Ehrmann, managing partner of the Meridian Institute. “I am pleased with the feedback from company managers who are finding the guidelines helpful for developing strategies that improve both corporate performance and ecosystem stewardship.”

The road-testers found that the guidelines can provide a number of other benefits. They can help companies anticipate new markets and government policies that may emerge in response to ecosystem degradation. They can strengthen corporate environmental impact assessments by adding considerations traditional methods may overlook.

They also can help companies better manage conflicts over resources, identifying options for better tradeoffs between ecosystem services. “The methodology helped us identify and rank emerging problems, and provided us with a framework for turning risks into opportunities,” said Peter Gardiner, natural resources manager at Mondi, a leading international paper and packaging manufacturer.

Mondi’s newfound strategies include a number of operational changes that will increase the company’s efficiency in using freshwater, a scarce ecosystem service, and lead to new markets for the company’s byproducts.

“The Corporate Ecosystem Review helped us to better understand how a number of emerging environmental changes are likely to affect our business and how our company might best position itself to respond to these changes,” said Steve Hunt, senior vice president, Asia-Pacific, Eka Chemicals, a division of chemical giant Akzo Nobel.
 
Some road-testers, such as Mondi and BC Hydro, used the guidelines to gain insight into the direct implications that ecosystem trends pose for them. Other road-testers, such as Akzo Nobel and Syngenta, applied the methodology to understand the risks faced by a segment of their customers due to ecosystem degradation and, in turn, discovered opportunities for new products or services that address these risks. The guidelines profile these and other road-test experiences.

"Leading companies realize that they need to be prepared for the business challenges posed by ecosystem decline," said Björn Stigson, president of the WBCSD.

For a copy of the "Corporate Ecosystem Services Review," visit www.wri.org.