The forum took place in Pretoria, South Africa, 16-17 March, and was hosted by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) and the Regional Africa Business and Biodiversity Forum in collaboration with the South Africa Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT).
It provided a space for dialogue and mutual learning on mainstreaming biodiversity across several sectors including mining, agriculture and forestry, energy, transport and infrastructure. As countries move from commitments to delivery of the Global Biodiversity Framework, there is a need for coherent, scalable and investable approaches to integrate biodiversity into core economic sectors.
Mainstreaming biodiversity across key economic sectors is essential to achieving national Global Biodiversity Framework targets, safeguarding livelihoods and building future-ready economies.
Ipieca insights from the forum
The forum addressed the integration of biodiversity considerations across all sectors, emphasising Target 15 of the Global Biodiversity Framework on reporting of risks, impacts, dependencies, and opportunities relating to biodiversity.
The event highlighted how various sectors including forestry, agriculture and mining are incorporating biodiversity measures and demonstrated the progress achieved thus far.
Discussions underscored the importance of collaboration and building synergies between nature and people, including engagement with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities and job creation efforts.
Mainstreaming biodiversity in the energy sector
Ipieca Nature Director Artemis Kostareli participated in this session, alongside representatives from Total Energies South Africa, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) South Africa, and ICLEI Africa and moderated by the he Endangered Wildlife Trust, which shared examples of successful biodiversity mainstreaming and shared tools, mechanisms and guidance which can support energy companies to mainstream biodiversity.
Ipieca's contributions focused on sharing tools and guidance for biodiversity management in the energy sector, as well as highlighting key biodiversity trends in renewables which potentially include but are not limited to:
- There is a shift towards net positive biodiversity outcomes, with more projects committing to no net loss, net gain, and Biodiversity Action Plans. Ipieca together with IUCN is working on marine net positive impact principles for the energy sector.
- In renewables, co‑use approaches (e.g. agrivoltaics, solar grazing, pollinator habitats) are helping optimise land use and deliver shared nature and community benefits – see the Ipieca-IUCN Co-use opportunities in wind and solar energy projects guidance for wind and solar for more details.
- At the same time, attention is expanding across the full renewables value chain, with stronger focus on circularity, critical minerals, and end‑of‑life to reduce upstream biodiversity pressure. These trends are increasingly reinforced through biodiversity reporting. Ipieca’s Sustainability reporting guidance can help companies articulate:
- Their biodiversity commitments and strategic approach
- Where their operational footprint intersects with sensitive areas such as protected areas and key biodiversity areas
- Tendering and contracting practices are evolving rapidly. Tender criteria and lender requirements increasingly reward robust biodiversity plans and transparent reporting, as seen in northern Europe
Ipieca support to mainstream biodiversity
Ipieca works with the oil, gas and alternative energy industry to enable them responsibly integrate the management of biodiversity and ecosystems across project life cycles.
Ipieca has had UN Convention on Biological Diversity observer status since 1994, and support for the UN CBD is principle three of the eight Ipieca Principles, which are a condition of membership.
Our biodiversity guidance is underpinned by the UN CBD and is aligned with the Global Biodiversity Framework targets.
Find out more about how Ipieca works to protect biodiversity
