The Sustainability Learning Forum

Combating Deforestation in Madagascar

AIR FRANCE KLM

Air France is providing €5 million in financial backing for a large project to combat deforestation in Madagascar in partnership with the GoodPlanet Foundation in France and WWF. more[...] login_required

The Author

Economic Impact of Protected Areas in Europe

In Europe, many different tools are used for protecting biodiversity and natural areas, including the Natura 2000 network, the Habitats Directive and the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas. To the European business sector, however, the potential economic value of Natural and National parks is little known. More and more companies are looking for ways to contribute to biodiversity protection. The European Business & Biodiversity Campaign and EUROPARC Federation are offering new aspects to the debate how protected areas can be maintained, and how societies can re-connect to the ecological, socio-cultural and economic value of such landscapes. European protected areas can bring measurable direct and flow-on economic benefits to local, regional, state and national economies. more[...] login_required

The Author

The Argan Program in Morocco

Raquel Ark, BASF
Charlotte d’Erceville, BASF
Viola Möller, BASF
Anne-Laurie Rodrigues, BASF
BASF SE

With the integration of Cognis and its active ingredients business, Laboratoires Sérobiologiques (LS), BASF has broadened its product portfolio based on renewable raw materials in the last years. One of renewable raw materials is Argan oil from Morocco. more[...]

The Author

Saving Sharks In Shady Costa Rica

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Ten years ago, the Sea Shepherd ship Ocean Warrior and her crew intervened against an illegal shark finning operation in Guatemalan waters by the Costa Rican long liner (and previously convicted poaching vessel) the Varadero I. In April 2002 the Varadero I was caught 50 miles inside Guatemalan waters. Rob Stewart filmed and documented their shark finning operations and Sea Shepherd received permission from the government of Guatemala to intervene to stop their illegal activities. The crew of the Ocean Warrior did so without causing any injuries and without causing any damage to the Varadero I. more[...] login_required

The Author

Rio+20 Summit

At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want. more[...]

The Author

Institutional Challenges for a Green Economy

Prof. Dr. Adil Najam, Lahore University of Management Sciences - LUMS
Dr Henrik Selin, Boston University

What if the world could actualize its finest visions of a “green economy”? What sorts of institutions would we need to manage it? What sorts of institutional innovations will lead us to such a destination? Those are some of the questions that should be at the forefront of our thinking as we think about what Rio+20 can achieve. more[...] login_required

The Author

Biodiversity Management

Biodiversity underpins development through the provision of products such as food, fibre and medicines and ecosystem services such as the regulation of water supply and air quality. Though billions of people around the world depend on such ‘goods’ and services, this contribution is neither fully recognized nor valued in markets. more[...]

The Author

Two Years Applying the Corporate Ecosystem Services Review

John Finisdore, World Resources Institute

The decline in nature’s ability to provide ecosystem services – the benefits humans derive from ecosystems – can present material risks and opportunities to business. However, managers have only just begun integrating considerations of ecosystem services into corporate decision-making processes. One resource has been the Corporate Ecosystem Services Review (ESR), a set of guidelines that has helped managers improve both corporate performance and the environment. more[...] login_required

The Author

Access and Benefit Sharing Is Paramount to the Future of Biodiversity

Dr. Jane Smart, IUCN

The benefits of biodiversity are inextricably linked to the people’s well-being and this includes their fundamental rights to preserve their natural heritage, as well as to use these resources for development. However, given the current rates of species extinction and the overall loss of biodiversity, regulating access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable distribution of the benefits associated with them – and at the same time safeguarding people’s traditional knowledge – will be one of the most important decisions at this year’s 10th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Japan. more[...] login_required

The Author

European Business and Biodiversity Platform (B@B)

Shulamit Alony, IUCN

The European Commission has decided to establish a technical support facility to promote the continued development of the EU Business and Biodiversity Initiative. The platform is open to civil society as well as to business in its activities. The platform will work with the interested priority business sectors identified by the European Commission – agriculture, food supply, forestry, extractive industry, finance, and tourism – to promote their awareness of and engagement in biodiversity protection. more[...] login_required

The Author

Environmental initiatives are good for business

Prof Daniel C. Esty, Yale University

It is increasingly clear that the key to addressing environmental problems in general and climate change in particular is innovation. And to ramp up innovation requires incentives that engage the private sector in the process of research and development of new technologies and systemic change. The most effective way to draw business into the search for greater energy efficiency, renewable energy, and better pollution control lies with making companies (and people) pay for the harms they cause. more[...] login_required

The Author

Make or Break Year for Biodiversity

Achim Steiner, UNEP

Climate change has been described as the biggest market failure of all time – the loss of biodiversity and nature’s economically-important services must surely be running a close second, if not an equal first. Year in and year out, the world economy may be losing services from forests to freshwaters and from soils to coral reefs, with resulting costs of up to $4.5 trillion or more. more[...] login_required

The Author

Jenkins, Clinton N.

Editorial Team

Clinton N. Jenkins more[...] login_required

The Author

Proliferation of Hydroelectric Dams in the Andean Amazon and Implications for Andes-Amazon Connectivity

Matt Finer, Center for International Environmental Law

A short studie over the strategic planning and policies of hydroelectric dams and its implication in Andean-Amazon region. more[...] login_required

The Author

Securing Yields through Sustainability

Editorial Team

How do we respond to the world’s increasing demand for food while protecting the environment and biodiversity for future generations? BASF’s sustainable agricultural work helps to address these global challenges. Our business is well-positioned to help customers become more sustainable. We provide farmers with reliable and innovative products, but also support them with our know-how. more[...]

The Author

Advanced Search