Guide presents top business engagement tips for conservation organisations

How to engage with private sector parties towards nature conservation? A new guide presents top tips for conservation organisations, drawing from experience and lessons of our local partners in Africa, Asia and South America.

Header photo: Banner in field Business engagement © Felicite Mangang, IUCN

‘If you are able to demonstrate how ecosystem degradation can negatively impact a certain business, it becomes easier to ally with them to make their operations more sustainable,’ says Diana Nabiruma of the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) in Uganda.

This is just one lesson from the new collection of ‘top tips’ on how conservation organisations can scale up engagement and best practice with business that was released yesterday by IUCN, in collaboration with IUCN NL, WWF NL and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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Practical roadmap

The collection of ‘top tips’ highlighted in this publication draws on lessons from 12 case studies provided by local partners in Africa, Asia and South America, and offers a practical roadmap for conservation organisations to consider from the preparation phase before approaching business to the engagement phase, and finally, scaling up.

‘Around the world, ecosystems and the services they provide are under pressure. With the Shared Resources Joint Solutions programme, we have focused on building the capacity of local civil society organisations that are on the front line of strengthening climate resilience, water supply and food security for local communities,’ says Omer van Renterghem, senior policy advisor on water and environment for the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

‘The first step is always the hardest. To safeguard biodiversity, the engagement with business is crucial for civil society actors. But how do you create an effective engagement, and how do you build a coalitions of peers?’ asks Romie Goedicke, senior expert Green Economy at IUCN NL.

Peer-to-peer learning

‘We realized that there was limited material available for conservation organisations on how to build business engagement plans. More importantly, there was little space for peer-to-peer learning as most examples were from Europe. This collection of ‘top tips’ fills an important gap, and provides a foundation for future programmes to build upon,’ says Goedicke.

The publication is available in English, French and Spanish. 

Downloads

• Top business engagement tips for conservation organisations
• Conseils clés pour travailler avec les entreprises à l’intention des organisations de conservation
• Consejos clave para colaborar con el sector privado para organizaciones de conservación

Learn more

• New ‘top tips’ guide helps conservation organisations engage with business
• IUCN Business and Biodiversity