On 4-8 November 2019, more than 300 delegates representing business, finance, government and civil society will convene for the first time in the Spanish capital for Natural Capital Week 2019.
The week-long meeting is being championed by leading international business networks who are bringing their communities together in advance of key political decisions on nature in 2020. Organisations participating in the week have united under the understanding that they are fundamentally dependant on the health of natural capital, and that its degradation places severe costs on businesses and economies while making addressing other global challenges, such as climate change and global inequality, significantly more difficult.
They also recognise that protecting, restoring and understanding their relationship with nature is in their own economic interest and that business has to play a leading role in convincing governments that an urgent response to the loss of nature is required.
During the week, leading businesses will explain how a natural capital approach is giving them the tools necessary to mitigate risk, identify opportunities for efficiency, resilience and innovation, and enabling them to deliver value for nature and people alongside their businesses. They will also explore how taking action to protect nature can empower them to make positive contributions towards people and communities, for instance by promoting human health and well-being, societal resilience, sustainable development, and making progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
During Natural Capital Week 2019 organisers will also formally collect business actions and commitments that contribute to the United Nations (UN) Biodiversity’s Action Agenda for Nature and People. This is part of a global biodiversity framework that countries are expected to adopt during the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) taking place in China in 2020. Business for Nature will launch a business consultation survey to test draft policy recommendations for governments to address the nature crisis.
Alongside the several hundred business representatives attending Natural Capital Week 2019, the week will host leading governmental and intergovernmental delegates including Daniel Calleja – European Commission Director General for Environment, Hugo Morán – Secretary of State for Environment from the Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition, and Terhi Letonen, Secretary of State of Finland.
Daniel Calleja, Director General for Environment, DG Environment, European Commission said: “The new political priorities of the European Commission´s President-elect call for the preservation and restoration of ecosystems to guide all of our work. We are working on a new Green Deal with a new Biodiversity Strategy that will provide new opportunities for businesses to invest in – and better care – for nature. In our EU Business and Biodiversity Platform we are partnering with many front-running companies to develop new tools which will enable companies to contribute to tackle the biodiversity crisis through integrating their dependencies on nature into their daily management practices.”