In opening the session, Lasse Gustavsson, WWF, stressed that a major focus of COP 11 was finding the financial resources to implement commitments made in Nagoya. He also underscored that COP 11 was about “making natural capital everyone’s business.”

Didier Babin, SCBD, delivered a keynote address on behalf of the SCBD Executive Secretary, expressing hope that one of the outcomes of COP 11 would be mainstreaming biodiversity into the development agenda. He underscored the role of development banks as key partners for South-South cooperation and highlighted: investment in natural capital and ecosystem restoration; NBSAPs as tools for mainstreaming; and the Nagoya Declaration on Biodiversity in Development Cooperation.

Nessim Ahmad, Asian Development Bank, discussed the bank’s strategic framework for green growth and outlined four strategic objectives: a shift to sustainable infrastructure; investment in natural capital; strengthened governance; and climate change. On priorities for success, Ahmed stressed: building political will; strengthening partnerships; strengthening national safeguards systems to meet international best practice standards; and working on the scale of integrated seascapes and landscapes.

Amadou Bamba Diop, African Development Bank, stressed the value of transboundary cooperation to biodiversity conservation. He outlined examples of regional projects supported by the bank for the Congo Basin, Lake Chad, Lake Tanganyika, and West Africa. On good governance and partnerships, he underscored transparency and the inclusion of civil society.

Andrew Velthaus, GEF, explained how US$ 223 million had been approved for projects focused on biodiversity mainstreaming, representing 80% of the goal set by GEF-5. He also highlighted the importance of working with multilateral development banks in the transition to a green economy and in scaling up payment for ecosystem services.

Peter Hilliges, KfW Development Bank, discussed the biodiversity portfolio of 1.2 billion Euro with funding from BMZ and BMU. He stressed that the CBD was used as the platform for the initiatives they fund. On steps forward, he stressed: improving the interexchange with science; and expanding support to marine protected areas and sustainable fisheries.

Highlighting the need for reliable, accurate and comprehensive reporting, Mohamed Sessay, UNEP, noted that it is a critical requirement of the Rio Conventions, emphasizing lessening the reporting burden on parties.

Peter Herkenrath, UNEP-WCMC, provided an outline of the integrated approaches to national reporting to the Rio Conventions (FNR_Rio) project highlighting: the complexity of reporting requirements, formats and national processes for providing reports; and lack data and limited accessibility. He explained that the objective of the project is to: develop integrated approaches to data collection and analysis; and increase synergies in the reporting processes to improve overall planning and decision–making processes at the country-level related to the implementation of the three Conventions. On joint reporting he said that four out of six pilot countries had tested the joint reporting format noting benefits including the possibility of centralizing coordination; enhancing cooperation between focal points; and reducing duplication. Challenges include coordination difficulties, repetitiveness of some of the questions, lack of guidance to the responses required in the reporting format and insufficient time to complete the report.

Jonathan Davis, Liberia, provided a national perspective suggesting that reporting should be more aligned to specific Convention needs. He noted the need for additional training to improve data collection and analysis, adding that the environment receives very low political priority in his country.

Lijie Cai, SCBD, observed that CBD parties are required to submit their fifth National report in 2014 and the focus will be on assessing progress on the Strategic Plan. He highlighted a draft COP 11 decision on increasing synergies for the implementation of relevant Conventions, emphasizing that that national focal points and the Rio Conventions should strengthen collaboration at the national level.

Wagaki Mwangi, UNCCD, presented the Performance Review and Assessment of Implementation System (PRAIS), an online approach to reporting using a standard template, which enables the UNCCD to easily access and analyze data from national focal points. She noted that with the online system it would be easier to pool data to see what is happening across the Rio Conventions. She highlighted challenges for the Convetions including: different reporting objectives, content and format; different reporting entities, status and obligations; and differing reporting cycles and schedules. Mwangi emphasized: making existing communication tools interoperable; developing and using common terms and definitions; and streamlining reporting templates.

Dipankar Sanyal, Teri Business Council for Sustainable Development (Teri-BCSD), said the council provides a platform to address sustainable development and promot leadership in environmental management and social responsibility. He noted the importance of creating measures to reduce threats to biodiversity.

Caroline Twigg, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), presented the council’s business and ecosystem training initiative, future leaders training programme, and tools developed for corporate ecosystem valuation and ecosystem services review. On the way forward for business, she highlighted: product innovations for ecosystem services; encouraging best practice through the value chain; creative partnerships; and regulation and incentives.

Eric Dugelay, Deloitte, discussed an analysis of the top 50 companies in the Fortune 500 and their actions to protect biodiversity. On recommendations for business, he identified: analyzing both the impacts and dependence of operations on ecosystem services; designing performance indicators to gauge impacts and chart progress; developing a biodiversity strategy; engaging stakeholders; and reporting on performance.

On tools used to manage impact on ecosystem services, Andrew Heald, UPM, discussed certification schemes for forest management. He outlined associated activities such as: identifying species at risk, setting sustainable harvesting levels; guidelines on regeneration practices; and traceability schemes to track certified products.

Providing a perspective from the agriculture sector, Ylva Stiller, Syngenta, discussed tools to assist farmers conduct risk assessment and provide management solutions. She described a soil erosion risk assessment tool developed by Syngenta.

Alka Talwar, Tata Chemicals Ltd., provided the chemicals sector perspective and discussed their experience in developing: a corporate sustainability protocol, a green manufacturing index linked to risk assessment; and a conservation fund.

Krunal Negandhi, Lavasa Corporation Ltd., discussed integrating biodiversity considerations into urban development. He stressed the importance of: involving environmental experts; conducting a baseline study; developing ecological performance indicators; and having third party verification.

Gerard Bos, IUCN, outlined the organization’s business engagement strategy, and noted key lessons learned: the need for transformational change among business, policy-makers, regulators, and financial institutions; leveraging change by working with sectors rather than only individual companies; and building awareness of the impact business has on natural-resource dependent livelihoods.