Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography
Open Access

Abstract

The total variety of life on our planet is referred to as biological diversity. Habitat fragmentation and chain extinctions are common which eventually affects the ecological balance of the earth. Companies which operate in close proximity to protected areas or areas rich in biodiversity are monitoring the potential impacts their activities have on biodiversity and are working towards reducing the same. As a result, the companies may generate fiscal returns as well as some real biodiversity benefits. The paper examines the initiatives for biodiversity conservation in the Sustainability reports of 101 reputed companies which are based on Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines using content analysis technique. It is observed that out of the 101 companies, 76.24% of the companies? report the biodiversity initiatives in their Sustainability report while 23.76% of the companies? do not report on biodiversity initiatives in their Sustainability report. The companies have been rated based on their reported initiatives. The paper highlights the initiatives taken by the multistakeholder partnerships and various industries for biodiversity conservation. It can be concluded that biodiversity initiatives reporting which are based on GRI guidelines have been adopted with success by a number of business organizations but efforts are still required for businesses to understand the returns from taking initiatives towards biodiversity conservation and reporting the same.

Biography

Aditee Potdar: Masters in Environmental Science, University of Mumbai, 2010. Currently pursuing Fellow programme in NITIE. Earlier, was working in Centre for Environmental Studies (CES), NITIE as a Research Associate