China Business and Biodiversity Partnership

The Foreign Economic Cooperation Office (FECO) takes the lead in administrating the China Business and Biodiversity Partnership. FECO is affiliated to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), which is the leading ministry for the CBD in China, and also the leading member of the National Committee for Biodiversity Conservation. This is the top decision making body on biodiversity in China. The Committee is composed of 26 ministries and is chaired by the Vice Premier of China.

The China Business and Biodiversity Partnership aims to work with a number of associations in China that deal directly with biodiversity related issues. These include associations dealing with the extractive industry, liquor (wine-brewing), Chinese herbal medicine and cosmetics. Other potential members of the Partnership include local governments (such as Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, etc.) in coastal areas that are more proactive vis-à-vis sustainable development and corporate social responsibility (CSR) since they need to regulate a large number of companies (usually export oriented) in their jurisdiction territory. Some other local governments, which have to be concerned with issues related to biodiversity, are somewhat baffled by the challenges of balancing biodiversity and economic development, and thus might also benefit from joining the Partnership. NGOs specialized in sustainability and CSR issues, and which have technical know-how to share, are also welcome to join the Partnership. Individual companies (operating within China) should be very proactive with respect biodiversity related issues before seeking membership in the Partnership.

The ongoing development of the China Business and Biodiversity Partnership, which is based on China’s “Strategy for enabling enterprises to engage in biodiversity”, is gradually forming a service system which will include the following activities:

• Policy recommendations for MEP and the National Committee for Biodiversity Conservation;
• Awareness raising and capacity building directly targeting businesses;
• Supporting the efforts of industry associations to integrate biodiversity into sustainability and CSR guidelines and/or to help develop industry specific guidelines focused on biodiversity conservation;
• Development of systematic principles, criteria and indicator to monitor and evaluate business operations affecting biodiversity and provide accreditation services;
• Provide consultations on sustainability to local governments to assist them in tackling the challenges of integrating biodiversity into local economic development strategies and incentive mechanisms;
• Creation of market based transaction methodologies and PES platforms between enterprises and between governments and enterprises, such as biodiversity carbon sinks;
• Convening of symposia and workshops on biodiversity, such as the annually held international forum entitled “Biodiversity and Green Development” (3rd edition to be held in 2015).

Contact Information
Foreign Economic Cooperation Office, Ministry of Environmental Protection
Houyingfanghutong 5, Xicheng District, Beijing, 100035, PRC
Tel:+86-108-226-8860

Contact Person
Mr. Zhao Yang
FECO
zhao.yang@mepfeco.org.cn

Annual Reports

Please see the link below for progress reports on this initiative

2015
2016
2017