Roundtable on Integration of Biodiversity in Company Policies of Spice Industry at Kochi

04 May, 2019

The CEO’s from the Spice Industry participated in the round table on 'Integration of Biodiversity in Company Policies of Spice Industry' on 4th May 2019 at Kochi along with the key representatives from National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), State Biodiversity Board (SBB), BMZ-supported Access and Benefit sharing (ABS) partnership project, CII IBBI (Confederation of Indian Industry-India Business and Biodiversity Initiative) and member representative from Mahindra & Mahindra.

The context of the roundtable was set by Mr Ram Kumar Menon, Chairman, World Spice Organization (WSO) followed by a presentation on the role of GIZ and the objective of Private Business Action on Biodiversity (PBAB) project in implementing biodiversity-friendly production in the Spice Sector by Dr Poonam Pande. The CII- IBBI Member company representative, Mr Hitesh Kataria (Head, Sustainability, Mahindra & Mahindra) presented the company’s journey with IBBI and the achievements of mainstreaming biodiversity into their various operations. Value addition and benefits obtained by the company were also elaborated. The event also featured an interactive session on the Biodiversity Act and ABS guidelines amongst the CEOs, NBA, SBB and GIZ. Dr Pravir Deshmukh, Counselor, IBBI presented the Initiative, its purpose and governance structure.

The roundtable showcased pilot study results and outcomes of Integrating Biodiversity into Spice Sector companies, as well as the ESM tool analysis and findings. The relevance of policies and regulations with respect to biodiversity were discussed with examples of both positive and negative impact on businesses.