2015 Biodiversity Barometer: Awareness on Biodiversity Values in India

26 Feb, 2016

“Though the number of people that can precisely define 'biodiversity' in India is still small, almost 65% of survey participants could provide a partial definition. This number is even higher among young people,” shared Ms. Maria Julia Oliva, Senior Coordinator for Policy and Technical Support, Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT).

Ms Oliva, who presented the results of the 2015 Biodiversity Barometer on 26th February in Bengaluru, further explained that "India ranked particularly well in the number of consumers saying they find it personally important to contribute to biodiversity conservation, which shows a clear opportunity for business in leading efforts on these topics."

Over the years, the UEBT “2015 Biodiversity Barometer” has proved to be a useful tool in increasing interest amongst businesses in biodiversity and ethical sourcing practices around the world. It contributes to measuring the first of the 2020 targets of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity: Awareness of biodiversity values. The 2015 edition of the Biodiversity Barometer includes information on countries such as India, France, Germany, UK, USA, Brazil and Mexico. The study on India was supported by GIZ's Indo-German Biodiversity Programme.

The 2015 Barometer shows that the Indian consumer is characterised by a high use of natural ingredients, a strong interest to contribute to biodiversity conservation, and high expectations towards companies’ respect for biodiversity.

“To reach the 2020 targets on biodiversity awareness, bolder awareness raising efforts are needed not only by governments, but also by businesses and others,” Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the CBD, in response to the survey results shared. “As we come to the second half of the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity, let us all work together to reach out and increase understanding on biodiversity.”

In 2015, research for the UEBT Biodiversity Barometer was conducted in nine countries (Brazil, France, Germany, UK, USA, The Netherlands, Mexico, Ecuador and India) to measure trends in biodiversity awareness. Since its first edition in 2009, 47,000 consumers in 16 countries have been interviewed.

Before the release of the “2015 Biodiversity Barometer” by Ms Oliva, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) launched, the “Southern Region Chapter” of the India Business and Biodiversity Initiative (IBBI). This is the second regional chapter of IBBI and aims to promote awareness and knowledge among businesses in the Southern region on integrating biodiversity in its policies, decisions and operations. The first regional chapter of IBBI, the Western Region Chapter was launched in Mumbai on 5 June, 2015.

The India Business and Biodiversity Initiative (IBBI) serves as a national platform for businesses and its stakeholders for dialogue sharing and learning, ultimately leading them to mainstream sustainable management of biological diversity into businesses. The National Initiative which started in 2014 has 25 member companies as signatories to the IBBI declaration, in its endeavour to outreach other regions and scaling up the cause of integrating biodiversity, in business decisions, policies and operations has launched its second regional chapter.

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Biodiversity Barometer