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The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private arm of the World Bank, added the new online publication “A Guide to BioDiversity for the Private Sector” to its Web site in March. This guide provides information and examples of how businesses in emerging markets can perform and profit from environmentally-conscious practices.
The publication is designed to provide businesses with an understanding of their responsibilities toward biodiversity, as well as notify them of the benefits they could derive through both environmentally-sound risk management and the promotion of sustainable production. The guide summarizes the typical risks and rewards of pursuing environmentally-friendly practices in terms of businesses’ stakeholders, and it gives an overview of major biodiversity issues facing key business sectors, including the mining, retail, chemicals, and agribusiness industries. Readers can also view case-studies of how various IFC-client businesses have handled biodiversity issues in their own operations.
This new guide is one of several publications posted on the IFC Web site meant to encourage social and environmental responsibility by businesses. The guide is available at http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/Content/BiodiversityGuide.
-Courtney Cavaliere
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