UNDP Report Launch: Biodiversity and the Business and Human Rights Agenda

Asia’s ecosystems and biodiversity are under extraordinary pressure from a variety of sources, many of them related to the drive for rapid economic growth.  

Natural resource and land exploitation, pollution, and climate change are threatening the loss of the continent’s rich biodiversity.  Today, 17 out of 36 global biodiversity hotspots – ecologically-rich areas under threat – are found in Asia.

The drive for development has also led to many Asian countries to fall short on agreed conservation goals, undercutting the ability of our coastlines, riverways, and forests to protect us from extreme weather events in danger. Ecosystems failure and biodiversity loss also put our basic human rights at risk while compounding inequality.

How can businesses contribute to halting and reversing the twin crises of biodiversity loss and ecological degradation, while providing access to fundamental human rights?

With the launch of the report "Asia in Focus: Biodiversity and the Business and Human Rights Agenda," United Nations Development Programme, business leaders and other expert speakers will help us unpack the linkages between biodiversity and human rights, expand on the costs of climate change, and outline the actions that need to be taken.

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