GoldenBee invited to TEEBAgriFood Global Symposium 2023

On November 7-9, Fu Xuan, the Project Manager of the International Cooperation, GoldenBee Consulting was invited to the "TEEBAgriFood Global Symposium 2023" (the Symposium) and gave a speech during the private sector session.

The Symposium was held at the United Nations Conference Center in Bangkok, Thailand. It is hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and is an important exchange of experience on the TEEBAgriFood project.

TEEBAgriFood refers to The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Agriculture and Food. This project is funded by the European Union and implemented globally by the UNEP. It is committed to promoting sustainable food systems transformation and biodiversity conservation in project countries (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and Thailand) through nature-based economic assessments. 

GoldenBee Consulting is the facilitator of TEEBAgriFood program in China, responsible for promoting the implementation and execution of TEEBAgriFood methodology in the private sector of enterprises.

The Symposium brought together representatives from relevant government Ministries and agencies, officials of UN and EU agencies, research teams and civil society organizations, and other relevant stakeholders from across the region and globally. The objective is to bring together key stakeholders to discuss the implications of project findings for the implementation of capitals accounting in sustainable food systems transformation in the project countries to take forward in public and private decision-making.

The three-day Symposium had breakout sessions for sharing insights from seven countries. Among them, at the China’s session, Dr. Sun Mingxing and Dr. Li Li of UNEP-IEMP introduced the research findings of "Tengchong: Multifunctional Ecological Landscape" and "Heilongjiang: Sustainable Soybean Production", respectively. They explored the impact of agrifood systems on natural capital, produced capital, social capital and human capital under the BaU, optimistic and pessimistic scenarios.

During the panel discussion, Mr. Liu Ning, Deputy Director General, Department of Nature and Ecology Conservation, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, suggested that China is a mega-biodiversity country. The TEEBAgriFood project in Tengchong and Heilongjiang is very representative. This project is also very helpful to encourage and inspire the local people and local government to improve their policy, and to protect the environment even they don't have a great economic output over there. The China National Committee for Biodiversity Conservation (CNCBC) has been established. After COP15, to combine the implementation of “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” with the promotion of biodiversity protection, China is now updating the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP). The methodology and the method used by the TEEBAgriFood will be very considerable for the implementation of NBSAP.

To better promote the TEEBAgriFood project in the private sector, the Symposium had a panel discussion on the implementation of the TEEBAgriFood framework in the private sector. There was a more detailed discussion on the business pilot cases and the next steps. It is aimed to better improve the TEEBAgriFood framework and guide the private sector in carrying out capitals assessment, providing open tools and resources for biodiversity management in the agrifood industry.

During the private sector panel, Ms. Fu Xuan stated that after COP15, the Chinese government has attached greater importance to the promotion and implementation of biodiversity. However, according to the GoldenBee research, the reports on biodiversity information disclosure in the agrifood sector only account for about 34% of the total number of reports surveyed. There are not many enterprises with awareness of biodiversity management. The TEEBAgriFood project combines biodiversity and economics, and its guidelines also provide a feasible framework for enterprises to conduct capitals assessment, which is an important tool for promoting sustainable development of the food systems.

Ms. Fu Xuan, the Project Manager of GoldenBee Consulting and the Representative of Capitals Coalition, during the “TEEBAgriFood Framework for the Private Sector” panel

Ms. Fu also shared the capitals assessment cases in China, and how to use the assessment results to guide the development of corporate biodiversity strategy. She suggested that for the future promotion of TEEBAgriFood project, trainings on the Step 3 “Measure and Valuation” of the guidelines should be reinforced, with more emphasis on the upskilling of biodiversity, decarbonization, and offering available data tools .

In the future, as the Capitals China Hub, GoldenBee Consulting will continue to promote the implementation of the TEEBAgriFood project in China, introduce the latest international business biodiversity management concepts, research results, methods, and tools, and promote corporate biodiversity management in China to a new level.