At the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Bonn, Germany, 34 internationally active companies, including nine from Japan -- with Ricoh Co., Fujitsu Ltd., and Aleph Inc., a restaurant company, among them -- joined the Business and Biodiversity Initiative and signed its Leadership Declaration on May 29, 2008. The signatory companies acknowledged their corporate responsibility for biodiversity conservation under the declaration.

These companies will set goals of biodiversity conservation by 2010, based on seven concrete guidelines, and undertake impact assessment of their business activities on biodiversity in order to reorient their environmental management system accordingly.

The CBD was signed by 190 states at the 1992 Earth Summit, and its objectives are the conservation of diversity in genes, species, and ecosystems, the sustainable use of natural resources, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.

The CBD aims to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the rate of biodiversity loss that would be as critical as acting on global warming. The Business and Biodiversity Initiative was launched under the initiative of the German government to engage the active involvement of the private sector.

http://www.bmu.de/english/current_press_releases/pm/41614.php
http://www.bmu.de/english/current_press_releases/pm/40914.php

Posted: 2008/10/05 10:59:03 AM

TAG Ecosystem , Manufacturing industry , Non-manufacturing industry