Ecosystem Service Indicators and the GRI Emerging philosophy and case studies of associated corporate sustainability reporting Tristan Tyrrell International Symposium 2011: Evaluating Biodiversity 17 February 2011 United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre
UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity assessment and biodiversity policy support arm of UNEP In operation for 30 years Provides objective, scientifically rigorous products and services Interprets and analyses data and makes the results available to both national and international decision makers and businesses.
Global Reporting Initiative Pioneered the world s most widely used sustainability reporting framework Core goals include the mainstreaming of disclosure on environmental, social and governance performance GRI's Reporting Framework developed through a consensus-seeking, multi-stakeholder process
What is an indicator? In common use today, e.g., level of unemployment or GDP Can be simple measures or multiple indicators can be combined to form a composite index Purpose-dependent Always need some analysis and interpretation Net change in forest area in regions of the world (MA 2005)
What is an indicator? The GRI has five basic criteria for indicator design: Relevance Comparability Unbiased/Neutral Clarity Feasibility
Materials Energy Water Biodiversity Emissions, effluents, and waste 6 Transport GRI Performance Indicators Selec%on of GRI Performance Indicators: Environment Materials used by weight or volume Energy consump8on by primary energy source Renewable energy- based products and services Total water withdrawal by source Water sources significantly affected by withdrawal of water Loca8on and size of land owned, leased, managed in, or adjacent to, protected areas/high biodiversity value Significant impacts of ac8vi8es, products and services on biodiversity Habitats protected or restored Number of IUCN Red List species and na8onal conserva8on list species Total (in)direct greenhouse gas emissions Other relevant indirect greenhouse gas emissions Emissions of ozone- deple8ng substances NO X, SO X and other significant air emissions Total water discharge Total weight of waste by type/disposal method Total number and volume of significant spills Weight of transported, imported, exported or treated waste deemed hazardous Iden8ty, size, protected status, and biodiversity value of water bodies and related habitats significantly affected by discharges of water and runoff Significant impacts of transpor8ng products and other goods and materials
Ecosystem Services Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) classified ecosystem services as: supporting (e.g. soil formation) regulating (e.g. water retention) provisioning (e.g. food) cultural (e.g. recreation) Concept continually evolving More recent frameworks differentiate between actual benefit derived ( stock ) and those necessary for delivering a service ( flow )
Ecosystem condition and biodiversity - e.g. soil organic matter, forest disease prevalence, water quality Ecosystem function - e.g. Ecosystem Services water purification and climate regulation, or primary productivity Service provision - e.g. timber produced, water available, or coastal defences present Realised benefits - e.g. timber utilized, water consumed, infrastructure or land protected
Company interactions with ES Dependencies Companies depend upon a large array of goods and services provided by ecosystems Direct dependence natural resources that are used by company (e.g. water use) Indirect or secondary dependence e.g. oceanic nutrient cycling essential to fish productivity
Company interactions with ES Impacts A company can have a range of impacts when the stocks and/or flows of ES Direct impact - e.g. excessive water use, pollution, carbon emissions Indirect or secondary impact - e.g. water use causing a change in the river flow; immigration to certain areas as a result of the availability of jobs or roads Cumulative impact e.g. global climate change as a result of cumulative GHG emissions
Company interactions with ES Impacts Linear change e.g. water quality declines with an increased level of effluent output. Non-linear change increases in pressure from a company cause changes to the stock or flow of ES once a threshold of pressure is reached
Company interactions with ES Impacts and dependency relationships are not mutually exclusive Many direct impacts will lead to indirect impacts All of these can occur over different geographical and temporal scales Can occur throughout the supply chain from production and manufacturing through to consumption and disposal
Company interactions with ES 1. Company pressures on the state of ecosystems 2. Pressures of other actors (and/or natural causes of change) on the state of ecosystems 3. Combined pressures of the company and other actors on the state of ecosystems 4a. Potential impact a company will have on ES 4b. Actual impact on the state of ecosystems
Company interactions with ES 5. Dependencies the company has on ES 6. Beneficiaries and the benefits they receive from the ES impacted or depended upon by the company 7. Effect of the company s management response to mitigate its pressure on the system 8. Effect of other beneficiaries responses to mitigate their pressures on the system
Existing corporate approaches to ES Corporate Ecosystems Services Review Methodology to identify connections between impact & dependence, and potential risks or opportunities. Five steps: 1. Select scope of ESR 2. Identify priority ES the ones most relevant to corporate performance in the context of dependency and impact 3. Analyze conditions and trends in priority services, as well as the drivers of these trends 4. Identify business risks and opportunities that might arise due to trends in the priority ES 5. Develop strategies for managing the risks and opportunities
Existing corporate approaches to ES Rio Tinto Developing a project entitled Natural Capital Investigate the business case and methodologies around designing and implementing ecosystem service offsets and investments in non operational, land based assets. Collaboration with the IUCN, utilising tools from WBCSD, WRI and the BSR In Utah, created and sold wetland credits as part of our Inland Sea Shorebird Reserve project. In Madagascar, exploring developing ecosystem service credits around water and biodiversity at a number of conservation management sites.
Ecosystem Service Food Fibre Biomass fuel Freshwater Gene8c resources Ecosystem Service Indicators Possible proxy indicator Presence of edible plants and animals Presence of species or abio8c components with poten8al use for 8mber, fuel or raw material Presence of species or abio8c components with poten8al use for 8mber, fuel or raw material % use of the water available and provided by the system Ecosystems diversity and distribu8on Level of biodiversity intactness Presence of species or abio8c components with poten8ally useful chemicals and/or medicinal use Volume of chemicals emiyed to or extracted from the atmosphere Leaf area index, NO x - fixa8on, etc. Biochemicals, & pharmaceu8cals Air quality regula8on Climate regula8on Volume of greenhouse gases or aerosols captured from atmosphere Natural forest cover Water regula8on Water storage poten8al of relevant ecosystem or landscape in litres Natural forest cover Erosion regula8on % of area covered with vegeta8on and trends of change Number of company ac8vi8es that have contributed to erosion poten8al Nutrient cycling Decomposi8on and/or absorp8on level of nutrients in relevant areas Stock of total mineralisable nitrogen Soil ph
Ecosystem Service Indicators Ecosystem Service Possible proxy indicator Water purifica8on Filtra8on and decomposi8on level of organic wastes and pollutants in &waste treatment relevant water bodies Assimila8on and detoxifica8on of compounds through soil and subsoil processes in relevant areas ph of or salt content in water Disease regula8on Incidence and abundance of human pathogens Soil quality regula8on Variety and number of soil micro organisms Pest regula8on Prevalence of crop and livestock pests and diseases Economic costs of controlling diseases caused by crop pests Pollina8on Volume of pollen transferred from male to female flower parts Economic loss due to loss of pollina8on Natural hazard regula8on Recrea8on and ecotourism % of disasters avoided as a result of ecosystem capacity No. of company ac8vi8es that have impacted natural buffer zones Natural forest cover Percentage change if live coral cover Annual % change in total mangrove area Economic loss due to disrup8ons from disaster events Number of visitors Revenue from tourism Number of jobs related to tourism Water cycling Volume of water flow in solid, liquid or gaseous forms Natural forest cover
Impacts Challenges of indicator development Requires a broad understanding of ecological and social aspects Measuring changes in ES is complex and may require expert knowledge that needs to be acquired externally Aggregating impact data problematic to show links in operation-level data to local state & benefit changes Changes in ES may be the result of natural changes and may be caused by a combination of different pressures from a combination of stakeholders.
Impacts Proxy indicators Use information on the condition of ES gathered by others Assess the risk that significant impacts may happen Use (quantitative or qualitative) information from local/ regional experts and local/regional stakeholders to decide on the severity of potential, perceived and/or actual impacts
Dependencies Challenges of indicator development A company may not be familiar with all pressures it creates on an ecosystem Data availability, complexity, etc. It is often difficult to know how each pressure will impact ES due to trade-offs. Measuring ES dependencies alone may not detect emerging issues and trends until it is too late to address them
Dependencies Proxy indicators Focus on a limited number of company pressures on ES and take only the most significant ones into account in reporting Define a minimum set of common indicators (pressure indicators relevant in most situations)
Responses Challenges of indicator development A company s response should match the company s main impacts on the condition of the ecosystem and ES Some concepts, such as compensation, are still in their infancy, and if reported will raise many questions. Obtaining information on the response to pressures on the system initiated by other actors.
Responses Proxy indicators Report on responses that seek to minimize any pressures that have the potential to lead to an impact Report on responses that aim to secure a future supply of services
Current status of project and next steps Two discussion papers produced, with input from an advisory group Side event at CBD COP 10 (October 2010) Workshop in London (February 2011) Workshop in Brazil (March 2011) Final output expected early May 2011 25
A world where biodiversity counts Tristan.Tyrrell@unep-wcmc.org www.unep-wcmc.org