biodiversity, which has previously been thought to be not even remotely related, and also describe the need for a shift toward biodiversity-friendly lifestyles as well as excellent examples of various entities working for the mainstreaming of biodiversity.

## 1 Biodiversity and businesses

International movements concerning biodiversity and businesses began with the adoption for the first time of a resolution regarding the importance of private-sector engagement at the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP8), held in Curitiba, Brazil, in March 2006. While noting that the private sector is arguably the least engaged of all stakeholders in the implementation of the Convention, the decision placed high expectations on contributions private-sector businesses can make, noting that (1) the daily activities of business and industry have major impacts on biodiversity, and encouraging business and industry to adopt and promote good practice could make a significant contribution to preventing the loss of biodiversity; (2) individual companies and industry associations can be highly influential on Governments and public opinion, and thus, they have the potential to spread the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity; and (3) the private sector possesses biodiversity-relevant knowledge and technological resources, as well as more general management, research and communication skills, which, if mobilized, could facilitate practices for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

At the high-level ministerial segment of COP9 held in Bonn, Germany, in May 2008, a signing ceremony took place for the “Leadership Declaration” on the “Business and Biodiversity Initiative (B&B Initiative),” promoted by the German government, in order to further increase the engagement of private-sector businesses in the achievement of the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The declaration states that signatory companies acknowledge and support the Convention’s three objectives, and commits them to analyze corporate activities with regard to their impacts on biodiversity. A total of 34 companies, including nine Japanese firms, participated in the signing ceremony. Further, G8 Environment Ministers Meetings in 2007, 2008 and 2009 addressed biodiversity as an important agenda item, underlining the need to strengthen policies to engage the industry sector and consider economic impacts associated with the loss of biodiversity.

In Japan, meanwhile, given the international developments discussed above, “The Third National Biodiversity Strategy,” formulated in 2007, set forth the preparation of guidelines for guidance for voluntary actions by businesses. The Basic Act on Biodiversity (Act No. 58 of 2008) provides for obligations of business operators and citizens and also prescribes the promotion of biodiversity-friendly business operations as a national policy. Further, in August 2009, the Ministry of the Environment announced the “Guidelines for Private Sector Engagement in Biodiversity,” which serves as guidance for voluntary actions by business operators for the conservation of biodiversity and its sustainable use. The guidelines provide for the philosophy, the direction and procedures of efforts and basic principles for business operators voluntarily taking actions friendly to biodiversity (Figure 3-3-1).

Figure3-3-1 Outline for Guidelines for Private Sector Engagement in Biodiversity