The Business Action and Advocacy for the Planet project: ‘Towards a nature positive world by 2030 through businesses driving policy ambition and reducing negative corporate impact’ was made possible by funding by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with Conservation International as the implementing agency.

Business for Nature has engaged with four countries from south-east Asia, Africa and Latin America to support the implementation of the GBF, more specifically to create a business-government dialogue aim at assisting governments to implement the business-related targets of the GBF. The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) through the National Biodiversity and Business Programme (NBBN) is the South African implementation partner as endorsed by the South African government (DFFE) in 2023. The NBBN has been representing South Africa on the UN CBD Global Partnerships for Business and Biodiversity since 2016 and is well positioned to drive this important dialogue. 

Oluwasooto Ajayi, Africa Lead from Business for Nature talks about the importance of Biodiversity in Business across the African continent and the role of Business for Nature in bringing together influential organizations, businesses, and industries to encourage business action in addressing the biodiversity crisis.

Monday 22 May was International Day for Biodiversity (IDB), a day proclaimed by the United Nations to recognize and promote the importance of biodiversity. The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s National Biodiversity and Business Network (NBBN) chose this day as an opportunity to encourage engagement between government and business in tackling the biodiversity crisis together as part of our Biodiversity (is your business) Day Indaba. This was the first meeting between business and government in the wake of the historic Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework signed in December 2022, and was an exciting opportunity to explore collaborative solutions to the biodiversity crisis and how South Africa can meet and exceed our targets as signatories to the Framework. The Indaba was officially opened by the honourable Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy.

Our public indaba was hosted at the Wits University Origins Centre Museum under the IDB theme “From Agreement to Action: Build Back Biodiversity”, focusing on how business is a key part of this theme. Upwards of 60 people attended in person and over 100 joined us virtually. This iconic venue was chosen as a stark reminder of humanity’s entrenched dependence on biodiversity, with attendees given the opportunity to tour the museum’s fascinating exhibitions.

We hosted a Q&A session with key representatives from business and finance, specifically companies that are really leading the charge in terms of biodiversity mainstreaming, as well as a thought leader in the corporate sustainability space and a representative from the United Nations Development Programme. The discussion was chaired by Kishaylin Chetty, who was a biodiversity expert at Eskom (South Africa’s state-owned energy company) for many years before joining the EWT as Senior Manager of Sustainable Financing. Topics discussed the outlook for mining and forestry companies relationship with nature, where government can be part of the dialogue, the challenges in accounting for biodiversity impacts across retail supply chains, learnings from existing business/NGO/academic partnerships with regard to corporate biodiversity initiatives, opinions around Target 15 of the Global Biodiversity Framework, the role of finance in translating ambition and agreement into action for nature, where public bodies can support private sector conservation efforts such as biodiversity stewardship, and much more.