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Biodiversity Partnership

Restoring natural forest from eucalyptus in Sri Lanka

We are working with three conservation NGOs – Earthwatch Institute, Fauna & Flora International and the Tropical Biology Association – in the British American Tobacco Biodiversity Partnership.

The Partnership seeks to address some of the challenging issues surrounding the conservation and management of biodiversity within agricultural landscapes and the ecosystems on which they depend.

By combining our efforts, we believe we can achieve greater benefit for society and business, demonstrating and making the most of opportunities for wider change.

In 2010, ‘The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity’ initiative, led by the United Nations Environment Programme, recognised the Partnership as an effective example of how businesses can address biodiversity. You can read the study at www.teebweb.org .

Mission

The Partnership’s mission is to act as a catalyst, bringing together the knowledge, skills and resources of the Partners to leverage positive change in understanding and behaviour among stakeholders.

History of the Partnership

The Partnership has been working since 2001. Term 1 (2001–2005) concentrated on building trust and understanding between the Partners and exploring conservation opportunities, focusing on local implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Partners delivered significant conservation outcomes through their own initiatives as well as laying the groundwork for joint projects, such as restoring natural forest from eucalyptus in Sri Lanka and sustainable forest management in Uganda.

Term 2 (2006–2010) saw the Partnership develop a programme to deliver our commitment to embed biodiversity conservation principles into our business operations and create a range of useful tools to drive change. This direction was set out in our 2006 Group Biodiversity Statement, followed by several high-level commitments made in our Sustainability Reports. The Partnership continued to support important conservation projects around the world.

The current Term 3 (2011-2015) focuses on fewer, larger projects on biodiversity in agricultural landscapes and the ecosystems on which they depend, specifically:

• Reducing unsustainable use of forests for fuel and restoring natural forests;
• Enhancing freshwater ecosystems, through improved vegetation cover and water management; and
• Promoting agricultural practices that enhance soil health and biodiversity.

The Partnership’s current programme of work

As a sign of the Partners’ continued commitment, the Partnership was renewed for a third term of five years from 2011 until 2015. Term 3 has a sharper focus on the key issues relating to biodiversity and ecosystem services in tobacco growing and mixed agricultural landscapes and the ecosystems on which they depend.

From 2011 onwards, the Partnership is focusing on fewer projects that are larger in scope and ambition than previous projects. These will focus on our leaf operations and priority locations identified by all four Partners, specifically on:

• Reducing unsustainable use of forests for fuel and restoring natural forests;
• Enhancing freshwater ecosystems, through improved vegetation cover and water management; and
• Promoting agricultural practices that enhance soil health and biodiversity.

The Partnership’s projects fall into two categories: operational projects and aligned projects.

Operational projects

Operational projects focus on areas where we have leaf growing operations. They are largely undertaken as a result of biodiversity risk and opportunity assessments and corrective action plans. The issues identified by biodiversity risk and opportunity assessments are often part of larger issues in a wider agricultural landscape, and cannot be tackled alone. The Partnership believes that they can be jointly addressed through collaboration with other local stakeholders, such as governments, communities, universities, other NGOs and businesses.

Working together, we believe we can start to address wider impacts and dependencies on biodiversity and ecosystem services, and encourage sustainable agricultural production for the benefit of both present and future generations.

Aligned projects

The Partnership’s programme of work also seeks to deliver NGO Partners’ conservation and biodiversity management aims within the context of agricultural landscapes and the wider ecosystems on which they depend.

These aligned projects will be delivered independently by each Partner:

• Fauna & Flora International will focus on climate adaptation and valuing biodiversity and ecosystem services, to build resilience in complex agricultural landscapes;
• Earthwatch Institute will focus on developing new research on biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes in Brazil and India;
• By improving and developing capability within sub-Saharan Africa, the Tropical Biology Association will help to manage impacts and provide solutions in agricultural and forest landscapes of importance to ecosystem services.

The Partnership regularly updates its progress on projects at www.batbiodiversity.org .

Governance

The Partnership has four main governance components which ensure its principles and objectives are applied in an appropriate manner:

• The Partnership Board, who are responsible for the strategic direction of the Partnership. This comprises of senior executives from each of the Partner organisations, together with independent external representation, respected environmentalist Tony Juniper;
• The Programme Team, who are responsible for overseeing and implementing the programme of work;
• On-the-ground Project Teams; and
• Independent assurance to provide evaluation of our governance processes.

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