Environmental degradation could dominate future news headlines according to The Corporate Ecosystem Services Review by The World Business Council on Sustainable Development, the Meridian Institute and the World Resources Institute. This review report encourages businesses to identify future risks associated with ecosystem change. Consider these basic examples of industries that could be affected:
• Water withdrawl from rivers and lakes could decrease the availability of freshwater resources, placing the beverage industry at risk.
• Pollution and climate change could negatively impact nature's pollinators, placing agribusinesses at risk.
• Degradation of forests and waterways could hurt the recreational value of popular tourist destinations, placing the tourism industry at risk.
• Further loss of coral reefs, nature's fish nurseries, could mean further losses to natural fish stocks, placing the commercial fishery at risk.
• Deforestation without adequate replanting could decrease timber and wood fiber supplies, placing the pulp and paper industry at risk.
For more information, please visit: The Corporate Ecosystem Services Review
http://pdf.wri.org/corporate_ecosystem_services_review.pdf
Penny Slight is the Program Manager for the Eco-Efficiency Centre. For more information, please contact the Eco-Efficiency Centre by phone at (902) 461-6704; by email at eecentre@dal.ca; or visit our website at www.dal.ca/eco-efficiency.
