Just a short posting for those of you interested on what is being done to scale up biodiversity friendly businesses.  This was sent me to me by Mareike Hussels [1] my colleague at WRI's New Ventures [2] program, a business accellerator for sustainable business.  She attended an event in Brazil on biodiversity and enterprise creation and was particularly impressed by the caliber of the participants [3] at the event [4].  Mareike thought that the meeting could represent the start of a renewed interest in SMEs that offer biodiversity-related services.  Check it out to see if you agree.

Earlier this month, New Ventures collaborated with the Brazilian Foundation for Sustainable Development (FBDS) [5] in organizing a side event at the COP8 of the Convention on Biological Diversity [5] in Curitiba, Brazil. The event, held on March 23rd-24th, focused on the role of the private sector in the conservation of biological diversity.

Luiz Ros, WRI’s Head of Markets and Enterprise [6], opened the seminar with a call for increased efforts to create the markets and opportunities that allow the private sector to contribute to biodiversity conservation at a larger scale. Throughout the two days a number of speakers from the New Ventures network presented business or financial initiatives that contribute to biodiversity conservation.

One such company, Linax [7] produces linalol that is an ingredient found in 70% of costmetic and perfume products such as Chanel No. 5. Linax's linalol is produced from Brazilian basil, which a substitute for the endangered Amazonian wood-rose. Global consumption of linalol is estimates at 6,000 tons annually, and consumption in Brazil is estimated at 100 tons annually.

New Ventures’ portfolio of companies [8] includes over 30 companies from biodiversity friendly sectors, such as certified wood and non-timber forest products, organic agriculture and food products made of sustainably harvested native species.