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The View | Companies need to target net zero on biodiversity loss, not just climate change

  • Given the intimate relationship between climate and the biosphere, the two crises can only be tackled together
  • The private sector’s role should not be limited to risk mitigation and transparent reporting – capital expenditure can be redirected to repair damage to the ecosystem

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Indigeneous Fynbos flowers grow at the African National Biodiversity Institute’s Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, in Cape Town, South Africa, on October 24. The pharmaceutical industry uses as many as 70,000 different species of plants, but unchecked development and economic expansion have led to biosphere degradation that could do serious harm to planetary and human health. Photo: EPA-EFE

Human health has been dependent on nature for centuries. The people of ancient Mesopotamia used hundreds of plants to treat injuries and illnesses.

Many such nature-based treatments remain in use today. By some estimates, more than a third of modern drugs are derived from flora and fauna and the pharmaceutical industry uses as many as 70,000 different species of plants.

When nature thrives, humans are healthier, too. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true.
Thanks to biodiversity degradation caused by rapid economic development, the world is already losing one potentially critical pharmaceutical remedy every two years. For example, a species of Himalayan yew tree that is used to produce Taxol, a chemotherapy drug to treat cancer, is on the brink of extinction from overharvesting and collection for fuel.

But medical therapies represent only a fraction of what humans stand to lose from the depletion of the Earth’s biodiversity. A healthy biosphere ensures the world is sufficiently supplied with food, clean air, water and fertile soil. It also creates the conditions under which crucial processes such as pollination, flood protection and carbon capture and storage take place.

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China pledges US$232m to world biodiversity conservation at COP15 conference in Kunming

China pledges US$232m to world biodiversity conservation at COP15 conference in Kunming

Attempts have been made to quantify the risk. One model developed by the United Nations treats the planet’s resources as “natural capital”, an asset much like any other that appears on a company’s balance sheet.

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