This article was originally published on the World Economic Forum.
“Despite increasing attention on the topic of nature loss, there is still limited understanding on how nature loss can be material to businesses and what the private sector can do to address this challenge. The World Economic Forum is launching a series of New Nature Economy (NNE) reports in 2020, making a business and economic case for safeguarding nature. Nature Risk Rising, the first of the NNE series, aims to show how nature-related risks are material to business and why they must be urgently mainstreamed in risk-management strategies.
Here are the five key lessons from the Nature Risk Rising report:
- Economic growth has come at a heavy cost to natural systems
…Three-quarters of ice-free land and 66% of the marine environment have been altered and 1 million species are at the risk of extinction in the coming decades, mostly due to human activities. - Five direct drivers are responsible for 90% of nature loss
…Namely, land-and-sea-use change, natural resource exploitation, climate change, pollution and invasive alien species. - Nature loss is often hidden
…Nature is often hidden or incorrectly priced in supply chains, blurring the link between nature loss and the bottom line. - A risks framework for nature
…An urgent reframing of the financial materiality of nature risks is required. - Business as champions for nature
…By realizing how nature-loss is material to their operations and growth models, businesses can and must be a key part of the solution.”
Read on at: the World Economic Forum
