Wildsight Goes International

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Wildsight representatives are in Europe to illustrate to European businesses that protecting biodiversity makes perfect business sense there, as well as here in the Kootenays.

 

Becoming an increasingly important international voice for conservation, Wildsight participated in the International Business and Biodiversity conference in Bonn, Germany. The Bonn conference, hosted by the International Living Lakes network is a prelude to the May 2008 UN Convention of Biological Diversity, also in Bonn.

 

“It’s quite evident there has been a substantial shift within the European business community,” says Wildsight Program Manager Kat Hartwig. “Businesses are realizing that by supporting sustainability efforts they can have a positive effect, both on reducing their environmental impact and sustaining their own success.

 

“The situation is the same in the Kootenays,” Hartwig says.

 

Biodiversity is defined as a wide variety of organisms found within a specified geographic region and often used to measure the health of the world’s interconnected environmental health.

 

“It has been useful for us to have international partners in the International Living Lakes Network so that we can exchange information and learn from each other,” says Hartwig.

 

“Projects like the Lake Windermere Project and the Stewards and Ambassadors program are becoming international models for leadership in promoting biodiversity,” says Hartwig. “Cities and businesses supporting projects such as these are essentially leading the way to create a better future.”

 

Nobel peace prize winners Wangari Maathai, R. K. Pachauri and Al Gore have outlined the importance of biodiversity for the world’s economy. If current neglectful trends continue, the loss of biodiversity could lead to a predicted 20% drop in the world’s economy – an estimate of nearly $6 trillion.

 

“Directly or indirectly, businesses of all sizes worldwide rely on natural resources,” says Hartwig. We’d like to commend both European based businesses and the Kootenay businesses who’ve made the choice to consider biodiversity in their decisions.”

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