All Articles About Ecosystem Services

Report: The Quiet (R)Evolution in Expectations of Corporate Environmental Performance

Sissel Waage, Director, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services; Linda Hwang, Former Manager, Research

Kit Armstrong, Senior Advisor, BSR

The amount of activity related to ecosystem services within government, business, financial services, and academics indicates that the concept has finally come of age. Read more →

Posted: April 30, 2012 | Topics: Climate Change, Ecosystem Services, Environment | Download (PDF)

BSR Insight Article: Scaling Up Payments for Watershed Services

Linda Hwang, Former Manager, Research

Watershed Connect, a new online platform by Forest Trends and Ecosystem Marketplace, helps water managers, policymakers, and other stakeholders involved in investing in watersheds share information and resources to help solve the global water crisis. Through payments for watershed services (PWS) programs, cities globally have been addressing water scarcity and declining quality cost effectively by restoring and protecting the natural infrastructure that supplies clean water. Through these programs, landowners receive financial incentives to conserve, sustainably manage, and/or restore watersheds to yield services like purification, flood and erosion control, and places for people to enjoy the outdoors. Despite much activity, there has been no effective space for those involved in PWS to share experiences and ideas. This platform aims to make information on various programs more accessible so more practitioners can receive news and analyses, join relevant discussions, share their own project work, and access resources to help them implement or scale up their own PWS schemes. Read more →

Posted: April 10, 2012 | Topics: Ecosystem Services, Water

BSR Insight Article: KPMG Report Picks 10 Sustainability ‘Megaforces’

Population growth, material resource scarcity, climate change, and energy and fuel are among the issues in sustainability that could have significant impact on the business landscape over the next 20 years, according to a recent report by KPMG International. The “Expect the Unexpected: Building Business Value in a Changing World” report outlines 10 global sustainability “megaforces” that are putting the world on a development trajectory that is “not sustainable.” Others on the list include water scarcity, wealth, urbanization, food security, ecosystem decline, and deforestation. (The report is 180 pages; the executive summary is here.) The report notes that all of these forces are interconnected, and insists that in order to manage the risks, businesses must use a systems thinking approach that addresses the ways megaforces relate to each other. Specific recommendations include: * Companies should turn strategic plans into ambitious targets and actions for sustainability supply chain management. * Companies should seek collaboration with business partners on sustainability issues. * Governments should increase collaboration with the private sector. Read more →

Posted: April 3, 2012 | Topics: Climate Change, Ecosystem Services, Energy, Environment, Financial Services, Food, Beverage & Agriculture, Land Use & Biodiversity, Strategy & Integration, Sustainable Consumption, Water

BSR Insight Article: Corporate Environmental Performance in Practice

Linda Hwang, Former Manager, Research Sissel Waage, Director, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Kit Armstrong, Senior Advisor, BSR

Note: This article is the second piece in a two-part series on the uptake of ecosystem services. Read part one of our series, on the increasing integration of ecosystem services within government, the investor community, and business sectors. Read more →

Posted: April 3, 2012 | Topics: Ecosystem Services, Environment, Land Use & Biodiversity

BSR Insight Article: The Quiet Revolution: The Changing Expectations of Corporate Environmental Performance

Linda Hwang, Former Manager, Research Sissel Waage, Director, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Kit Armstrong, Senior Advisor, BSR

Note: This article is the first piece in a two-part series on the uptake of ecosystem services. Read part two of our series, on the increasing integration of ecosystem services within government, the investor community, and business sectors. In today’s complex operating environment, it is becoming more important for companies to scrutinize how they manage corporate processes that affect the natural infrastructure upon which business and society rely. This infrastructure supplies ecosystem services—the flows from systems that provide raw materials for business—such as fertile topsoil (providing timber and crops), a relatively predictable climate, and coastal protection from storms. Read more →

Posted: March 27, 2012 | Topics: Ecosystem Services, Environment, Land Use & Biodiversity