About Biodiversity
The term “biodiversity” or “biological diversity” means the variability among living organisms - including terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems - and the ecological complexes within which they exist.
Environmental degradation has the potential to push an ecosystem to a critical “tipping point” where it undergoes a significant shift or even collapses entirely. After the tipping point, processes like pollination and timber provision would decline rapidly and substantially, threatening supply chains across a range of global industries.
For leading companies, addressing biodiversity related risks is crucial to minimizing the impact on their supply chains, operations, and reputations. Unlike climate change, which is often quantifiable through carbon emissions, biodiversity loss is more complex to measure and mitigate. Failing to address these risks can result in disrupted operations, strained resource availability, and reputational damage, underscoring the need for transparent and actionable solutions such as biodiversity credits.
Production forests cover about 30% of the world’s land area—around 4 billion hectares— and play a crucial role in the global economy by supplying industrial wood. These forests are essential for a circular bioeconomy, where renewable resources like wood replace fossil based materials. However, intensive logging and habitat fragmentation have caused significant biodiversity loss in these forests.
This isn’t just bad for nature—it’s bad for business. Biodiversity is vital for forest health and productivity. Research shows that a 10% drop in biodiversity leads to a 3% decline in forest productivity. In fact, the value of biodiversity in maintaining forest productivity is estimated at $166–490 billion annually—far exceeding the global cost of conserving all terrestrial ecosystems. That’s why we invest in improving biodiversity within production forests.
By making these working landscapes more biodiverse and resilient, we not only protect nature but also support sustainable wood production—benefiting both the environment and the economy.