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<h2 style='margin-top:24.0pt'><span style='color:#002060'>New accounting tool
tallies 'ecosystem services'</span> <span class=origin10><span
style='font-size:15.5pt'>(05/03/2011)</span></span><o:p></o:p></h2>
<h5>Jenny Mandel, E&E reporter<o:p></o:p></h5>
<p>Pollinating insects contribute $190 billion per year to the global economy
-- about eight times the total operating income of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in 2010
-- and their contribution, along with other crucial functions provided by
natural ecosystems, should be accounted for in business decisionmaking.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>So argues a new framework on corporate ecosystem valuation published by the
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) that aims to help
companies take stock of the resources they use and their contribution to the
corporate bottom line.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>"Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are continuing to
escalate, thereby putting business at risk, but if managed properly, [they] can
be transformed into new opportunities," WBCSD President Björn Stigson said
in launching the framework last month in Geneva.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Corporate ecosystem valuation, or CEV, "allows business to fully
recognize and value ecosystems and the services they deliver," Stigson
said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>The term "ecosystem services" covers a broad swath of benefits
that accrue from the natural environment including filtering dirty water,
providing flood control, dispersing pollutants, providing naturally occurring
resources like minerals and the genetic basis for farmed resources like crops,
and serving up recreational and spiritual opportunities.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>The new framework, which was developed by WBCSD over 18 months along with
consulting group Environmental Resources Management, the International Union
for Conservation of Nature, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Resources
Institute (WRI), is designed to help willing participants account for those
benefits and assess how they play into business decisionmaking.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>The framework builds on a previous tool developed by WRI, WBCSD and the
facilitation group Meridian Institute that they say has been used by more than
300 companies since 2008 to tally their exposure to ecosystem-related risks and
opportunities.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>The new approach was road-tested by more than a dozen companies that have
endorsed the roadmap, including mining giant Rio Tinto, forest product group
Weyerhaeuser, Italian oil and gas company Eni, South African utility Esko, and
manufacturer Hitachi.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>"We see that CEV can strengthen business performance by considering
social benefits, sustaining revenues, reducing costs, revaluing company assets
and determining levels of liability and compensation," the group of early
testers said in a joint statement.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>WBCSD officials say the framework does not tell businesses how to carry out
an ecosystem valuation, nor does it put values on particular services.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Rather, it can help companies decide if they might benefit from carrying out
a comprehensive assessment and lays out a process of scoping, planning and
evaluation with further advice on how the results can be applied to change
companies' "business as usual" processes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>The framework argues that CEV can help companies save money, find new
revenue streams from underutilized resources, reduce their tax burdens, assess
liabilities and gauge environmental risk, among other benefits.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Another potential upside of undertaking an assessment, the report says, is
if companies can use the results of a formal ecosystem valuation to argue a
case with regulators, for example that taking certain conservation steps should
allow the company to charge users an additional fee.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>But it acknowledges that one factor in whether businesses should take the
approach is the range of mandates set by various levels of government that
require some form of reporting.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>In publishing the evaluation tool, the groups behind it said they aimed to
develop a system that would cater to the needs of business. That would set it
out from among an increasing number of such frameworks that have emerged over
recent years, they said, each of which with a slightly different perspective.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>This tool was specially designed to meet the requirements of a study, the
Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) report, released by "G-8 +
5" group of environment ministers at last year's U.N. Convention on
Biological Diversity, they said (<i><a
href="http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2010/10/28/archive/3">ClimateWire</a></i>,
Oct. 28, 2010). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>_______<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Scott
Hoffman Black<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Executive
Director<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Chair<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>
IUCN Butterfly Specialist Group<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The
Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>1971
– 2011: Forty Years of Conservation!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>4828
SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR 97215, USA<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a
href="https://webmail.integra.net/src/compose.php?send_to=sblack%40xerces.org"><span
style='color:blue'>sblack@xerces.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Tel:
(503) 232-6639<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Toll
free: 1-855-232-6639<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Cell:
(503) 449-3792<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The
Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is an international nonprofit
organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates
and their habitat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>To
join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our work, please visit <a
href="http://www.xerces.org"><span style='color:blue'>www.xerces.org</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>NEW
BOOK NOW AVAILABLE:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a
href="http://www.xerces.org/announcing-the-publication-of-attracting-native-pollinators/"><span
style='color:blue'>Attracting Native Pollinators. Protecting North
America’s Bees and Butterflies</span></a></span></i><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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