Biodiversity loss is a global phenomenon. Driven by habitat degradation, climate change, the introduction of invasive species and other anthropogenically induced factors, around 1 million of the 8 million plant and animal species on earth are threatened with extinction. Increasingly, biodiversity loss is being recognised as a systemic risk with far-reaching consequences, including financial risks for businesses worldwide.
The World Economic Forum estimates that more than half the world's GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services, and therefore exposed to risks such as deforestation. In 2020, the consequences of biodiversity loss became all too familiar, with the Covid-19 pandemic illustrating how an invisible shift in nature can manifest as a global socioeconomic crisis.
Businesses, particularly in the soft-commodity supply chain, could have a key role in stopping the destruction of nature and preventing future disasters, including pandemics. Though some corporations are addressing the financial risks of biodiversity loss, many more remain unaware, partly because of an historic focus on climate change. It is also because of the sheer complexity of biodiversity as an issue, as well as the current absence of direct and material financial metrics that allow companies to assess and make ecosystems a focal point of their social responsibility strategies.
Recognising this increasingly material environmental and financial risk, the seminal Dasgupta Review – a report commissioned by the UK Treasury and published in February – argues that our current measures of wealth, such as GDP, do not incorporate the value of nature or our use of it. Doing so would be vital for achieving sustainable growth. What's more, the report points out that as nature is silent, invisible and mobile, companies are not always aware of the ecosystem services they exploit.
Terrestrial biodiversity loss is primarily tied to companies operating in three consumer staples: palm oil, beef and soy. These soft commodities are responsible for around 70 to 80 per cent of the 10 million hectares of natural habitat that the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates is lost every year to deforestation, a key nature-related risk.
Companies with exposure to deforestation risks are becoming more aware of the reputational and financial risks of their inaction – and, increasingly, the existential threat of degrading the very resources upon which their industries rely. Considering the findings from the Dasgupta Review, there are four main ways such companies can help arrest deforestation.
There are four main ways such companies can help arrest deforestation
First, developing robust monitoring would allow companies consuming soft commodities to understand where deforestation risk is greatest in their supply chains, and enable purchasers further up the chain to perform biodiversity due diligence. Deploying technologies such as satellite monitoring is a vital way to address the root causes of biodiversity loss.
Second, by supporting smallholder farmers by paying not only for the crop, but for the ecosystem services provided by intact vegetation, companies can empower communities to protect nature.
Third, companies can move to adopt universal standards. Agreement among all stakeholders in soft-commodity supply chains creates momentum to make sustainability a reality. Indeed, we have seen this already, where, thanks to the mass adoption of NDPE (no deforestation, no peat, no exploitation) sourcing policies, an estimated 28 per cent of the land conceded for palm oil plantations in Indonesia is no longer viable for palm oil development.
Finally, better use of already-deforested land can meet supply requirements and circumvent the need for land-use expansion. What’s more, more efficient agricultural practices can permit greater yields from already-cleared lands. Such efforts are already being promoted in the Cerrado, a region of Brazil, for soy cultivation, where 18 million hectares of degraded pasture could be made available.
Looking at the issue more fundamentally, there are many calls for businesses and governments to rethink their approaches to accounting for nature and embed biodiversity protection at the heart of the markets. For companies, this could include assessing their resource efficiency based on an approach that focuses on inputs.
Whereas an “output approach” measures the emissions, pollution and waste caused by the creation of a product, an input approach measures the total amount of natural resources that go into the product. This method of analysis permits the inclusion of natural capital in profit and loss accounts, offering a more comprehensive assessment of the total economic cost of production and giving a more accurate representation of profit – factoring in positive and negative externalities.
From a macroeconomic standpoint, putting a price on nature through ecosystem accounting can make us more aware of our use of, and impact on, nature in the production process. Policymakers and institutions have started to incorporate nature preservation into policy measures.
On a local scale, the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment’s National Biodiversity Strategy states that, by the end of 2021, 50 per cent of government and private land exploited for agriculture, aquaculture and forestry will be sustainably managed to ensure the conservation of biodiversity.
It has also declared that pollution from different sources will be reduced to levels that do not harm the functioning of sensitive ecosystems and biodiversity. Globally, more countries have taken to a “user pays” approach to ecosystem services and protected areas, with trade deals setting incentives to deal with the cross-border issues.
However, any meaningful reversal of biodiversity loss will need companies around the world to completely reassess their interactions with nature. If the past year and a half has taught us anything, it is that reconfiguring our connection to the natural world is an urgent next step we cannot ignore.
Michael Wilkins is a senior research fellow in sustainable finance at S&P, a global ratings agency
While you're here
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
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THE DRAFT
The final phase of player recruitment for the T10 League has taken place, with UAE and Indian players being drafted to each of the eight teams.
Bengal Tigers
UAE players: Chirag Suri, Mohammed Usman
Indian: Zaheer Khan
Karachians
UAE players: Ahmed Raza, Ghulam Shabber
Indian: Pravin Tambe
Kerala Kings
UAE players: Mohammed Naveed, Abdul Shakoor
Indian: RS Sodhi
Maratha Arabians
UAE players: Zahoor Khan, Amir Hayat
Indian: S Badrinath
Northern Warriors
UAE players: Imran Haider, Rahul Bhatia
Indian: Amitoze Singh
Pakhtoons
UAE players: Hafiz Kaleem, Sheer Walli
Indian: RP Singh
Punjabi Legends
UAE players: Shaiman Anwar, Sandy Singh
Indian: Praveen Kumar
Rajputs
UAE players: Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed
Indian: Munaf Patel
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Company profile
Date started: Founded in May 2017 and operational since April 2018
Founders: co-founder and chief executive, Doaa Aref; Dr Rasha Rady, co-founder and chief operating officer.
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: Health-tech
Size: 22 employees
Funding: Seed funding
Investors: Flat6labs, 500 Falcons, three angel investors
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
EMIRATES'S%20REVISED%20A350%20DEPLOYMENT%20SCHEDULE
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THE SPECS
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 275hp at 6,600rpm
Torque: 353Nm from 1,450-4,700rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Top speed: 250kph
Fuel consumption: 6.8L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: Dh146,999
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Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam
Rating:**
Tentative schedule of 2017/18 Ashes series
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2nd Test December 2-6, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
3rd Test Dcember 14-18, Waca, Perth
4th Test December 26-30, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
5th Test January 4-8, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
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HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
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Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
Results
- Brock Lesnar retained the WWE Universal title against Roman Reigns
- Braun Strowman and Nicolas won the Raw Tag Team titles against Sheamus and Cesaro
- AJ Styles retained the WWE World Heavyweight title against Shinsuke Nakamura
- Nia Jax won the Raw Women’s title against Alexa Bliss
- Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon beat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
- The Undertaker beat John Cena
- The Bludgeon Brothers won the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos and New Day
- Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle beat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon
- Jinder Mahal won the United States title against Randy Orton, Rusev and Bobby Roode
- Charlotte retained the SmackDown Women’s title against Asuka
- Seth Rollins won the Intercontinental title against The Miz and Finn Balor
- Naomi won the first WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal
- Cedric Alexander won the vacant Cruiserweight title against Mustafa Ali
- Matt Hardy won the Andre the Giant Battle Royal
Winners
Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)
Ballon d’Or Féminin (Women’s)
Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)
Kopa Trophy (Best player under 21 – Men’s)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona / Spain)
Best Young Women’s Player
Vicky López (Barcelona / Spain)
Yashin Trophy (Best Goalkeeper – Men’s)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City / Italy)
Best Women’s Goalkeeper
Hannah Hampton (England / Aston Villa and Chelsea)
Men’s Coach of the Year
Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain)
Women’s Coach of the Year
Sarina Wiegman (England)
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How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
