Jane Goodall, the world-renowned ethologist and primatologist, told business leaders gathered in Hong Kong that they need to partner with the government and civil society to promote biodiversity in the Asian business hub.
In her first appearance in Hong Kong in six years, Goodall said corporate support is urgently needed to drive “positive changes to our planet”.
“We cannot do things alone,” she said at an event at the University of Hong Kong on Tuesday. “We need to collaborate. We need to have links between the corporate world and government and civil society. We need to work together.”
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At the event, organised by the Jane Goodall Institute Hong Kong, the HKU Jockey Club Enterprise Sustainability Global Research Institute and Zurich Insurance Hong Kong, Goodall met more than 200 business leaders. She said the private sector, the academic community, non-profits and government bodies urgently need to work together to drive conservation and sustainability efforts.
“We have five years to get together and try and slow down these horrific harms that we’ve done to the planet, to move in the right direction,” she said.
Goodall, 90, is best known for her work with chimpanzees in Tanzania, but she also earned a PhD in animal behaviour from the University of Cambridge and is a United Nations Messenger of Peace – as well as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
In 2022, nations from around the world agreed on a number of measures aimed at addressing the loss of biodiversity as well as restoring natural ecosystems. The agreement, which was reached at Cop15 in Montreal, included a series of global targets including the effective conservation and management of at least 30 per cent of the world’s lands and waters as well as the mobilisation of at least US$200 billion a year in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding by 2030.
In 2021, the Hong Kong government unveiled a plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Protecting biodiversity is also high on the city’s agenda as it seeks to adapt to global warming and other effects of climate change.
As a densely populated city and global finance hub, Hong Kong can rally support from the business community, universities and local communities to focus on green buildings and sustainable architecture, Goodall said.
“Incorporating the economic value of biodiversity into ESG frameworks is essential yet complex,” said He Guojun, director of the HKU Jockey Club Enterprise Sustainability Global Research Institute at the event. “Biodiversity subtly and significantly benefits human well-being, and disruptions can have profound and lasting impacts through interconnected ecosystems.”
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