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	People need nature to thrive by Conservation International   Since its inception in 1987, Conservation International has worked to benefit humanity by conserving the Earth’s biodiversity – the species and ecosystems that are our natural heritage. We believe that maintaining healthy ecosystems and the services they provide is the foundation for healthy human societies that thrive on sustainable economic development.   CI works in biodiversity hotspots, high-biodiversity wilderness areas and seascapes in more than 40 countries. These regions of the planet’s richest biodiversity also are home to indigenous and local communities that directly depend on healthy ecosystems for their clean water, food, fuel, clothing, medicine and shelter. When soaring human consumption and impact depletes those resources, everything and everyone suffer. By partnering with these local inhabitants and other stakeholders – from international organizations and national governments to grassroots groups – CI strives to achieve the multiple benefits of empowering indigenous and local communities to conserve essential resources and strengthening the fundamental role of biodiversity conservation in providing sustainable livelihoods.   In 2003, CI created the Indigenous and Traditional Peoples Program (ITPP) to continue to strengthen our commitments to indigenous and traditional peoples and support the vital role of their territories in conservation landscapes. We work directly with local leaders, communities, conservationists, indigenous organizations and other critical players to build a common agenda for the conservation of biological and cultural diversity at local, national and international scales. The program’s activities strengthen the collaboration of these groups and expand the abilities of communities to effectively manage their lands and resources while also maintaining their livelihoods and their natural and cultural patrimony.   We support efforts by indigenous groups to gain legal designation and management authority over ancestral lands and their resources. We help communities enhance their capacity to manage those areas to conserve the biodiversity and ecological processes on which they depend. We join international partners in the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund and other mechanisms that support projects promoting biodiversity conservation and human well-being. We partner with communities to support the sustainable and traditional uses of medicinal plants and animals, and provide needed economic resources that help promote conservation efforts on the ground. All of our work emanates from our guiding principles of helping people through conservation. Visit the related web page
	UN highlights role of transnational corporations in transitioning to low-carbon future by UN News & agencies   July 2010   While they are major carbon emitters, transnational corporations (TNCs) are also a source of ‘green’ investments and can play a crucial role in propelling the world towards a low-carbon future, according to a new report by the UN trade arm.   Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said at today’s launch of the publication in Geneva that “the global policy debate on tackling climate change is no longer about whether to take action: it is now about how much action to take, which actions need to be taken, and by whom.”   TNCs, as emitters and active players in low-carbon foreign investment, are “therefore inevitably part of both the problem and the solution to climate change,” he said.   Developing nations, though typically not large emitters of greenhouse gases, can still benefit from low-carbon technologies which could help to enhance their competitiveness in the global export market and accelerate their transition to a green economy, Mr. Supachai said.   In the new report, UNCTAD proposed the creation of a Global Partnership for Low-Carbon Investment with a view to harness low-carbon foreign investment for sustainable growth and development.   Such a collaboration, it said, would entail setting up clean investment promotion strategies, the dissemination of clean technology and creating a single global standard for corporations’ disclosure of their greenhouse gas emissions, among others.   Feb 2010   A new report for the UN into the activities of the world"s 3,000 biggest companies estimates the cost of pollution and other damage to the natural environment caused by the world"s biggest companies would wipe out more than one-third of their profits if they were held financially accountable, a major unpublished study for the United Nations has found.   The report comes amid growing concern that no one is made to pay for most of the use, loss and damage of the environment, which is reaching crisis proportions in the form of pollution and the rapid loss of freshwater, fisheries and fertile soils.   Later this year, another huge UN study - dubbed the "Stern for nature" after the influential report on the economics of climate change by Sir Nicholas Stern - will attempt to put a price on such global environmental damage, and suggest ways to prevent it. The report, led by economist Pavan Sukhdev, is likely to argue for abolition of billions of dollars of subsidies to harmful industries like agriculture, energy and transport, tougher regulations and more taxes on companies that cause the damage.   Ahead of changes which would have a profound effect - not just on companies profits but also their customers and pension funds and other investors - the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment initiative and the United Nations Environment Programme jointly ordered a report into the activities of the 3,000 biggest public companies in the world.   The study, due to be published this summer, found the estimated combined damage was worth US$2.2 trillion (£1.4tn) in 2008 - a figure bigger than the national economies of all but seven countries in the world that year.   The figure equates to 6-7% of the companies combined turnover, or an average of one-third of their profits, though some businesses would be much harder hit than others.   "What we"re talking about is a completely new paradigm," said Richard Mattison, leader of the report team. "Externalities of this scale and nature pose a major risk to the global economy and markets are not fully aware of these risks, nor do they know how to deal with them."   The biggest single impact on the $2.2tn estimate, accounting for more than half of the total, was emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change. Other major "costs" were local air pollution such as particulates, and the damage caused by the over-use and pollution of freshwater.   The true figure is likely to be even higher because the $2.2tn does not include damage caused by household and government consumption of goods and services, such as energy used to power appliances or waste; the "social impacts" such as the migration of people driven out of affected areas, or the long-term effects of any damage other than that from climate change. The final report will also include a higher total estimate which includes those long-term effects of problems such as toxic waste.   Trucost did not want to comment before the final report on which sectors incurred the highest "costs" of environmental damage, but they are likely to include power companies and heavy energy users like aluminium producers because of the greenhouse gases that result from burning fossil fuels. The aim of the study is to encourage and help investors lobby companies to reduce their environmental impact.
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