Transcript Investitionen in den Umwelttechnologien: ist das wirschaftlich

Biodiversity:
which challenges for industry?
Achim Steiner
Director General
The World Conservation Union (IUCN)
International Environment Forum
The World Environment Centre
Island of Porquerolles, France
22-23 September 2005
The Red List Programme
Which species are in trouble?
The 2004 Red List contains 15,589 species
threatened with extinction (CR, EN, VU)
Proportions threatened:
12% of birds
23% of mammals
32% of amphibians
25% of conifers
52% of cycads
The Red List Index for birds in different
biogeographic Realms
1996
2000
2004
Better
100
98
96
94
92
90
88
86
84
1992
Neotropical
Afrotropical
Australasian/Oceanic
Palearctic
Worse
Red List Index (set to 100 in
1988)
1988
Nearctic
Indomalay
2004 Global Amphibian Assessment
A third of the 5,743 known
species are categorised as
Critically Endangered,
Endangered or Vulnerable (IUCN
criteria).
Fungus Batrachochytrium
dendrobatidis causes disease
‘chytridiomycosis’ which damages
amphibian skins, blocking the
passage of air and moisture.
Other threats include viral
diseases, habitat loss, drought,
pollution, and hunting for food.
Calls to establish large-scale captive
breeding programme. The cost of
preserving amphibians from extinction
may run into tens of millions of US
dollars per year.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Land Cover Change
Forest Fires in Portugal 2005
Flooding in Europe 2005
Drought in north Africa 2005
Biodiversity:
which challenges for industry?
• Some Frontiers:
• Markets for Ecosystem Services?
• Biomimicry?
• Restorative Enterprises?
Markets = ecosystem goods and services
Promoting Conservation and Advancing
Community Livelihoods through Markets for
Environmental Services.
The Katoomba Group seeks to address key
challenges for developing
for ecosystem
planet, asmarkets
well as feed
it.
services, from enabling legislation to establishing
new market institutions, to developing strategies
for pricing and marketing, and monitoring
performance.
Orb-weaver spider silk - New fibre
manufacturing technique
Abalone mussel -lightweight but fractureresistant - tougher than anything we can
manufacture!
Barbs on weed seeds – best
known biomimetic invention.
Hibernating bears - clues to fighting diabetes.
Cell membranes - Super filters- for
desalination and chemical separation devices.
Leaves, chlorophyll and enzymes: the "photosynthetic reaction centers" - clues to
energy chemistry
“Nature as a Model for Business”?
…..key elements of a new generation of enterprises will be
radically different from those of our contemporary modern
industrial economy…..
« Restorative
Enterprises »
Our Vision: “To be the first company
that, by its deeds, shows the entire
industrial world what sustainability
is in all its dimensions: People,
process, product, place and profits
— by 2020 — and in doing so we will
become restorative through the
power of influence.”
Our Mission: « ……We will honor
the places where we do business by
endeavoring to become the first
name in industrial ecology, a
corporation that cherishes nature
and restores the environment.
Interface will lead by example and
validate by results, including profits,
leaving the world a better place than
when we began, and we will be
restorative through the power of our
influence in the world."