107 7 Mainstreaming Biodiversity into Business

Document begins: 107 7 Mainstreaming Biodiversity into Business Annelisa Grigg1, Fauna and Flora International Responsibility for the preservation of biodiversity extends far beyond Governments. Every individual, local community, sector and organisation, whether private, public, national, international or non-governmental, has an obligation and an interest in changing outlooks through education, and by example, thereby helping to end thoughtless or deliberate waste and destruction.2 1. INTRODUCTION Biodiversity conservation has frequently been viewed in isolation from the need to create sustainable livelihoods. As the links between social and economic development, human health and environmental integrity become more apparent, conservation is becoming an increasingly complex affair, requiring input and action by a diverse range of stakeholders, including the private sector. Biodiversity is defined as the variability within and between species and of ecosystems. Private sector interest in biodiversity goes beyond the identification of the useful elements of 1. The author would like to thank Kerry ten Kate of Insight Investment and Mark Rose, Ros Aveling, Martin Hollands and Zbigniew Karpowicz of FFI. 2. Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General (2004). `Message for the International Day for Biologial Diversity', 22 May 2004. 108 biodiversity for consumption (although this, of course, forms a substantial part of private ...