Letters

Corporate role in biodiversity conservation

LETTERS:

The government must acknowledge that this role goes beyond financial contributions, such as via corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Input from the private sector is as important as input from major stakeholders like indigenous peoples and local communities, women, non-governmental organisations and youth.

It is encouraging that the government, through the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry has on numerous occasions included the private sector in the updating of the National Policy on Biological Diversity. We hope this will continue.

The role and full participation of the private sector in biodiversity mainstreaming in Malaysia is paramount.

We have seen companies from several sectors successfully integrating biodiversity into their core management systems and business models.

These companies recognise that the business-as-usual scenario is no longer viable as biodiversity loss equals economic loss, which is a financial risk.

Although participation from the private sector in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework process remains low, the community's momentum and aspiration to change is at its highest point.

This is evident from the numerous initiatives and platforms led by the business and private sectors devoted to biodiversity conservation and the sustainability agenda, like the Business for Nature coalition and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development to name a few.

In Malaysia, an interim working group was formed in February last year with the mandate to establish the Malaysia Platform for Business and Biodiversity.

The interim working group consists of 18 voluntary like-minded members from companies in different sectors in Malaysia, as well as representatives from academia, research institutes and NGOs.

The Malaysia Platform for Business and Biodiversity is envisioned as a platform for the private sector to discuss, share and collaborate on issues related to biodiversity conservation and its mainstreaming, particularly to support the implementation of the National Policy on Biological Diversity.

This is an opportune time especially in anticipation of the new Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. It will be established in line with the framework laid out by the Global Partnership for Business and Biodiversity under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The Malaysia Platform for Business and Biodiversity is expected to be formally established in March next year, possibly during the second part of COP15 in Kunming, China. Once established, it will be open to members in Malaysia's private sector, regardless of size, industry and proprietorship.

A paradigm shift has definitely occurred across the private sector, even in Malaysia.

The business-as-usual scenario that mistrusts the private sector in its efforts to conserve and mainstream biodiversity is not the transformative change we need to move forward.

The community wants its voice heard, and it wishes for a meaningful and substantive role in supporting evidence of what can be done and how it can be a powerful agent for change, especially in addressing the biodiversity loss crisis.

We urge other like-minded corporations and companies in Malaysia to actively participate by giving input in the ongoing process to establish the new Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

We now have a group of people who are convinced of the global biodiversity crisis, that they also play a role in the problem and in the solution.

SYED MOHAZRI SYED HAZARI

Chair, interim working group for the establishment of the Malaysia Platform for Business and Biodiversity


The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times

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