Within the scope of the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union, a high level conference on Business & Biodiversity was held in the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon on 12 and 13 November. The conference, which aimed to discuss how biodiversity issues can be factored in into the competitiveness of companies, brought together more than 450 representatives from national and international companies interested in this theme.

The companies that adopt the Business & Biodiversity philosophy, such as the Portucel Soporcel group, will take a more active role in the quest for solutions permitting to conciliate environmental challenges with business strategy. “After climate change, biodiversity is today considered as the major issue of the century” stressed Francisco Nunes Correia, the Portuguese Minister for the Environment, in a meeting with journalists to discuss this initiative.

The conference included several roundtables and workshops participated by high level representatives from governmental entities, companies operating at global scale and non governmental organisations. The Portucel Soporcel group participated in the event through its CEO, Mr. José Honório, who spoke in a business roundtable on “Business perspectives on biodiversity challenges - What can European business do?”. In his presentation, Mr. José Honório stressed the need for the European Union to discuss and approve in the World Trade Organisation the necessary regulation mechanisms to combat the environmental dumping produced by economic agents that manufacture and sell products from a lopsided competition basis and with no respect for the Environment and Nature conservation, while encouraging those that operate at global scale in accordance with sustainability and biodiversity conservation principles.

Coinciding with the Business & Biodiversity international conference, the Group formally subscribed to the Countdown 2010 Initiative, signing a Statement that stands as a voluntary commitment to contribute to halt biodiversity loss, namely by controlling the impacts of its own activity, a practice it has already assumed in the sustainable management of its forestry resources.

The Countdown 2010 Initiative, developed within the scope of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), brings together senior representatives from various organisations and companies at global level which together assume major political commitments aimed at halting or significantly reducing the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. The main underlying principles of Countdown 2010 are the autonomous action of the subscribing entities, a scientific base and the transparency of the partners’ activities and practice.

By joining this initiative, the Portucel Soporcel group formally assumes as from now the joint responsibility to educate, communicate and increase public awareness to the environment.

This voluntary commitment takes one step further a management philosophy implemented by the Group, which had already been recently reinforced by the signature of a Biodiversity Protocol with the Portuguese Institute for Nature and Biodiversity Conservation (ICNB), and also through the publication of the Portucel Soporcel group Biodiversity Statement.

To this end, the Group will continue to invest in partnerships with entities that work towards the valorisation of natural resources at global scale, namely with the WWF – World Wide Fund for Nature, with which it is currently developing an important project in the High Conservation Value Areas.

Moreover, by actively participating in organisations such as the WBCSD – World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the BCSD-Portugal – Conselho Empresarial para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável and the Countdown 2010 Initiative – Save Biodiversity, the Group will step up its cooperation in projects whose ultimate goal is Nature conservation and preservation.