Businesses Can Either Lead Transformative Change or Risk Extinction

Businesses Can Either Lead Transformative Change or Risk Extinction All Businesses Depend on and Impact Nature

"Business-as-usual Incentives are Driving Nature’s Decline
The loss of biodiversity is among the most serious threats to business
100+ Concrete Actions for Governments, Financial Actors & Civil Society"

"Every business depends on biodiversity, and every business impacts biodiversity. The growth of the global economy has been at the cost of immense biodiversity loss, which now poses a critical and pervasive systemic risk to the economy, financial stability and human wellbeing. This is a central finding of a landmark new report published today by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)."

“Yet the twisted reality is that it often seems more profitable to businesses to degrade biodiversity than to protect it. Business as usual may once have seemed profitable in the short term, but impacts across multiple businesses can have cumulative effects, aggregating to global impacts, which can cross ecological tipping points. The Report shows that business as usual is not inevitable – with the right policies, as well as financial and cultural shifts, what is good for nature is also what is best for profitability. To get there, the Report offers tools for choosing more effective measurements and analysis.”

"The Report provides more than 100 specific examples of concrete actions that can be taken, across each of these five components, by businesses, governments, financial actors and civil society."
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https://www.ipbes.net/node/97532
#Biodiversity #life #habitability #Nature #degradation #loss #extractivism #IPBES #report #greenwashing #loggingImpacts #LobbyActivities #FossilFuelSubsidies #climate #BAU #risks #transformation

Small persistent humid forest clearings drive tropical forest biomass losses

"Tropical forests store about half of the global forest above ground carbon (AGC), yet extensive areas are affected by disturbances, such as deforestation from agricultural expansion and degradation from fires, selective logging, and edge effects...Findings highlight the disproportionate impact of small clearings on tropical carbon losses, suggesting the need to curb land-use changes and protect young and recovering forests."
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Xu, Y., Ciais, P., Santoro, M. et al. Small persistent humid forest clearings drive tropical forest biomass losses. Nature 649, 375–380 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09870-7 (paywall)
#Deforestation #Climate #LoggingImpacts #degradation #FCNSW #NSWLogging #PostHarvestBurn #DeliberatelyBurningAForest #EPA #MicroClimate #bushfires #NativeForests #AGC #BookkeepingApproach #ESA #TropicalForests #biodiversity

Large-scale mechanical thinning of biodiversity
Forests as machine-accessible landscapes

""Large-scale mechanical thinning operations are essentially a waste of money. At worst, they degrade forests, making them more flammable, eroding habitat, compromising water security and compacting soils."
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https://theconversation.com/victorias-mountain-ash-forests-naturally-thin-their-trees-so-why-do-it-with-machines-268201
#loggingImpacts #NSWLogging #thinning #Biodiversity #wildlife #machines #FossilFuel #climate #nativeforests #destruction #loggingIndustry #extractivism

Roadless area conservation: No roads, no extractive activities

Trump pushes to allow new logging in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest
* "The move would affect more than half of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest, opening it to potential logging, energy and mining projects. It would undercut a sweeping Clinton administration policy known as the “roadless rule,” which has survived a decades-long legal assault." >>
https://geosinstitute.org/past-initiative-forest-legacies/tongass/trump-pushes-to-allow-new-logging-in-alaska-s-tongass-national-forest/

* "Roadless area conservation is a conservation policy limiting road construction and the resulting environmental impact on designated areas of public land...In 'Industrial Tourism and the National Parks': Abbey describes road construction as "unnecessary or destructive development" and the loss of wilderness as a consequence of what he called "industrial tourism", where once-secluded natural areas become popularized and degraded." >>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadless_area_conservation

* What Is the Roadless Rule? "Enacted in 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule (Roadless Rule) designated forests across the country as “inventoried roadless areas,” prohibiting the building of — you guessed it, new roads — but also logging and other harmful industries on these lands." >>
https://environmentamerica.org/articles/what-is-the-roadless-rule-and-why-should-you-care-about-it/
#forests #biodiversity #rainforest #roads #harm #extractivism #roadless #conservation #LoggingImpacts #mining #tourism #BellingenLogging #GlenifferRoad #NSWLogging #RoadlessRule

Crime against wildlife is surging in Australia
Flogging off native animals and plants

" Around the world, wildlife and environmental crime is surging. It is estimated to be the fourth largest organised transnational crime sector, and to be growing at a rate two to three times faster than the global economy."

"This is a considerable problem, because Australia has unique and endemic wildlife species, high extinction rates, and is a country that is difficult to police due to its sheer size and vast remote areas. Our new, Australia-first study addresses this knowledge gap."

"We don’t understand the full extent and impact of these crimes in Australia, but we do know they can be disastrous. Wildlife trafficking and illegal trade erodes biodiversity through the removal of native species from their habitats. It also fuels the spread of invasive species, parasites and diseases."

"Over half of the environmental crimes (61.3%) occurred in outer regional and remote areas of Australia. "
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https://theconversation.com/crime-against-wildlife-is-surging-in-australia-these-4-reforms-can-help-tackle-it-273006
#Biodiversity #extractivism #CITES #monetisation #TakeCulture #WildlifeTrafficking #crime #loggingImpacts #deforestation #LandClearing #ecosystems #destruction #Trade #pets #consumption #NativeSpecies #flora #reptiles #birds #extinction #WEC #fishing #harm #exploitation

Gentle logging certification

"Our analyses indicate that logging operations are compromising Australia's intention to meet its conservation goals...Our findings highlight the need for urgent reform in Australia's certification schemes and the importance of a significant expansion in protected areas." Professor David Lindenmayer

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-05/sustainable-timber-certification-concerns/105904122
#biodiversity #logging #LoggingImpacts #conservation #climate #NSWLogging #plantations #expansion

Australia has new laws to protect nature. Do they signal an end to native forest logging?

"There is a straightforward way to avoid the ecological, administrative, and financial problems created by native forest logging – stop it altogether. The evidence shows ending native forest logging would deliver significant benefits for biodiversity, forest ecosystems, and reduce fire risks."
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https://theconversation.com/australia-has-new-laws-to-protect-nature-do-they-signal-an-end-to-native-forest-logging-271203
#NativeForests #LoggingImpacts #BAU #EPBCact #Biodiversity #conservation #governance #PoliticsOfUnsustainability #harm #thinning #LoggingIndustry #bushfires #risks

Degradation caused by human activities:
"Indonesian environmentalists blame rapid forest loss in Sumatra for severity of deadly floods."

"Environmental groups say the government is hypocritical and partly to blame for the destruction, given its approval of mining and logging permits. Environmentalists want an official audit of land use in Sumatra and other Indonesian islands, saying extractive industries combined with disasters could produce more devastation."

"...The floods and landslides that have devastated parts of Sumatra have been made worse by extensive deforestation driven by the approval of hundreds of extractive permits... Deforestation and mining activities in Sumatra had intensified the effects of the disaster and led to more deaths."

"Data from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry showed in Sumatra there were at least 1,907 active mining permits covering a total area of almost 2.5 million hectares."
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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-04/why-is-indonesia-the-most-severly-affected-by-cyclone-senyar/106095614
#floods #landslides #diy #extractivism #deforestation #mining #energy #LoggingImpacts #PulpPaper #EU #EudR #forests #climate #plantations #extractivism #biodiversity #governance #IndoPacific

Low fire risk landscapes
Challenging the norm of prescribed burning

* "Research shows long-unburnt forests act to limit fire without human intervention – even as the climate changes."

"Would it be worth removing the short-term defence of prescribed burning to bring forests back to a less flammable state?"

"In our new study, we examined whether phasing out prescribed burning could help Australian forests endure climate change. The answer was clear: it’s entirely possible to stop the cycle of fire feeding more fire, and help forests endure new climatic conditions."
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https://theconversation.com/in-1939-a-royal-commission-found-burning-forests-leads-to-more-bushfires-but-this-cycle-of-destruction-can-be-stopped-269099

* Are the alternative ecosystem states produced by positive fire-flammability feedbacks reversible? Philip J Zylstra and David B Lindenmayer 2025 Environ. Res. Lett. 20 124037DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ae18e7
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ae18e7
#fires #bushfires #Megafires #PrescribedBurning #BritishColonialism #pastoralism #loggingImpacts #climate #GHG #forests #destruction #biodiversity #ecosystems #conservation