Key takeaways from the Second Workshop on Corporate Marine Biodiversity Measurement.

The second workshop of the Methods Workstream, part of the EU Business & Biodiversity Platform is part of the stakeholder consultation process supporting the development of this year’s Thematic Report on Corporate Marine Biodiversity Measurement, due for publication by year-end.

Bringing together over 40 experts and stakeholders from sectors including fisheries, research, energy, and finance, among others, the workshop aimed to gather feedback on draft recommendations for assessing biodiversity performance in marine environments.

Opening the session, Johan Lammerant, Workstream Leader, highlighted the inherent complexities of marine biodiversity measurement. For example, measuring marine biodiversity state of nature is complicated and expensive. The available information often suffers from low resolution and inconsistencies in level of detail. As there is no ocean ‘ownership’, it is difficult to determine who should be accountable for biodiversity action. Given these challenges, a key recommendation from the workshop was to rely much more on multi-stakeholder collaboration across wider seascapes. This means that while companies can contribute funding, the actual monitoring should be carried out by those best positioned to do so—such as NGOs, local authorities, or scientists. 

Other recommendations for further action were discussed in a structured way, dividing general recommendations from sector-specific recommendations. The interactive format of the workshop allowed participants to provide real-time feedback. The recommendations and related discussion highlighted the need for:

·       Stronger multi-stakeholder collaboration

·       Centralized and user-friendly data platforms

·       Flexible yet harmonized measurement frameworks that can be adapted to sector-specific requirements

·       Improved guidance on innovative monitoring techniques and

·       Greater transparency and traceability in retail and in finance value chains

The recording of the workshop can be found here for those interested in a deeper dive into the discussions that took place in the session.

All the feedback from the workshop will inform the finalization of the thematic report, which will be presented at the European Business and Nature Summit in Helsinki in October.