The Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia (BCSD Australia) has announced plans to develop a training program to help business invest in natural ecosystems.
BCSD Australia will work with its newest member, Acacia Environmental Management, to develop the program.
Acacia Environmental Management is an environmental consultancy that focuses on delivering innovative and responsible land, water and ecological monitoring and management.
BCSD Australia CEO, Andrew Petersen, said the program will also raise awareness about this important issue.
“For business, it can help to think of ecosystems as natural infrastructure,” Petersen said.
“Businesses rely on ecosystems, for fresh air and water, temperature regulation, raw ingredients and more.”
Despite this, 60 per cent of the world’s ecosystems have been degraded over the past 50 years, according to Acacia environmental management CEO, Sophie Jones-Kelly.
She said for business to continue to benefit from ecosystem services and secure access to resources that are key to their operations, businesses needed to understand how they could invest in infrastructure to reverse degradation.
“This will not only reduce their exposure to risks linked to ecosystem degradation, but generate benefits for the economy, environment and society,” Jones-Kelly said.