The industry stakeholders discussed how responsible business should monitor and use the best technology to minimize environmental footprint and preserve biodiversity at the conference "Business and Biodiversity", held earlier this week at the Moscow Headquarters of the Russian Geographical Society (RGO).
Speaking at the conference, Alexey Knizhnikov, Head of the WWF Business Responsibility Program, said that business responsibility and the number of corporate animal conservation programs is growing steadily.
He noted that before 2014 only two offshore miners adopted the programs of responsible development, and today half of the companies (17 mining and 14 oil and gas firms out of 60) that are WWF approved participate in the programs. Large enterprises, mainly in the mining industry, whose activities directly affect the ecosystem, actively invest in animal reintroduction programs, help employees of nature reserves and national parks buy equipment and equip eco trails and routes.
The Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, Elena Panova, said that large Russian companies are becoming active participants in the convention on biodiversity conservation.
“Five years ago, four oil and gas companies - Rosneft, Gazprom, Yamal LNG and Lukoil - adopted corporate programs to preserve the biological diversity of marine ecosystems in licensed areas located in the Arctic zone.
"Today, more and more participants are joining the programs,” she added, recalling that “since the beginning of the year, the Ecology national project has been implemented in Russia, which is worth 4 trillion rubles.” She noted that special attention was paid to the conservation of biodiversity.
“Russia has created the federal project, committing itself to implementing a convention on biodiversity by joining other countries with the same commitment,” Panova said.
“Only together we can maintain the existing balance between man and nature,” the deputy minister added.
According to the corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, member of the Scientific Council of the Russian Geographical Society, Arkady Tishkov, responsible business should monitor and use the best technologies to minimize environmental impact and preserve biodiversity. According to the scientist, this is the main thing that large business should do. The conservation of biodiversity should be one of the fundamentals of the corporate strategy of serious business companies, he stressed.
“What should a business know about biodiversity? The main thing is that this is the basis of life on Earth, the basis of its diversity, the source of existence, the biological and genetic resource, the guarantor of a healthy environment, the source of environmental services and the reserve for self-healing. There are about 14 million species on the planet, but only 1/10 of them are scientifically described. And Russia is an environmental donor of the planet. About 60 percent of our territory is included in the global system of preserved ecosystems that have climate, water and biosphere functions to preserve the nature of the world,” Tishkov said, speaking at the conference on behalf of the Russian Geographical Society and the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Representatives of large business and environmental organizations together with leading Russian and foreign experts discussed ways to achieve a balance between economic development and biodiversity conservation.
It was what a responsible business should be like and how companies should work to minimize the environmental footprint of business activities.
The conference was organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, the Russian Geographical Society and the Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization "Expocenter" Reserves of Russia".
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