Global Business of Biodiversity – Global Business of Forests - 28th November – what an event!
December 01 2011
Taking part in the GBOB – GBOF event this year was a seminal moment for the Amazon Charitable Trust.
ACT was asked, not only to chair one panel, but to take part in another, ‘REDD or Dead’. Chaired by Jan McAlpine, Executive Director UNFF, Robert joined PwC’s Chris Knight and Abyd Karmali of Bank of America Merrill Lynch where they discussed the point that although there had been some progress over the last 4 years this had been largely on a regional front and not at global level. This emphasised the need for increased involvement from the private sector, with governments and policy makers taking so long to decide upon any concrete plans, otherwise REDD would certainly be dead.
In the afternoon Robert chaired the panel ‘UK – Brazilian Rainforest Projects: Practical Insights into how privately funded rainforest projects are taking shape’ and he was joined by Jo Fox, BskyB’s A Bigger Picture, and Tim Stowe, Director of International Operations at the RSPB. The purpose of this panel was to inform the audience of the practicalities of setting up projects abroad – specifically in Brazil, focusing on what is happening on the ground and the challenges that have to be overcome.
This was very well received and parties have already been in contact in order to have more detailed discussions.
We met a number of interesting people with whom we hope to continue to work alongside striving to achieve the best for our planet; Jan McAlpine of the UNFF to Pia Bucella and Christopher Boyd of the European Commission, the Sustainability & Climate Change department of PWC to BP and Earth Capital Partners amongst others.
It was a great day for all those involved in the issues of sustainability, climate change and biodiversity and a fantastic opportunity to hear great speakers, meet and exchange information and learn from one another.