Taking action to protect biodiversity
The world is experiencing a biodiversity crisis. Significant loss of species, ecosystems and genetic diversity is human-induced and represents, together with climate change, one of the greatest challenges of our time. Biodiversity is vital for a healthy and resilient world, and for human health and wellbeing. By enforcing responsible sourcing practices for the materials which enter our supply chain, the IKEA business can contribute to enhancing biodiversity globally as well as locally.
Forests are crucial for biodiversity
Forests cover approximately 30% of the world’s land area. These vital ecosystems with varied habitats are home to the majority of species living on land.
In the IKEA 2030 Forest Positive Agenda, we continue to lead projects and collaborate with others to enhance biodiversity globally, going beyond our own business. Special focus is given to how our biodiversity efforts can be monitored and made more efficient.
As a part of this, setting global standards that will enable businesses to assess their full value chain impact on biodiversity is a vital process. We are working together with others to develop standards and tools which can support IKEA and other businesses to include biodiversity in decision-making on, for example, material choice in product development.
Read more about the IKEA Forest Positive Agenda towards 2030
Restoring biodiversity beyond the IKEA supply chain
Over a period of 20 years, together with our partners we have restored around 18,500 hectares of heavily degraded rainforest in Borneo, Malaysia. This project, known as “Sow a Seed”, is one of the largest reforestation projects in the world and has now been given the highest protection status in Malaysia. IKEA has funded and actively supported the project together with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and Sabah Foundation, a Malaysian government organisation.
As a result of assisting the natural forest regeneration and replanting three million seedlings of around 80 indigenous species of trees, other species have followed to recreate a forest ecosystem which in many ways is close to the original. And most importantly – wildlife has started to return to the area, including pygmy elephants, orangutans, clouded leopards, and hornbills, as well as other rare species spotted using camera traps.
Understanding the impact of FSC forest management on biodiversity
At the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) during COP15, the IKEA business, together with FSC and other leading companies and NGOs, participated in the launch of an initiative to fast-track biodiversity assessments in FSC-certified forests.
As current data on global biodiversity is lacking or not comparable and doesn’t reflect the real value of nature in society, this initiative will support FSC certificate holders in demonstrating their biodiversity impacts in line with the Global Biodiversity Framework agreed on at COP15.
This initiative represents a big step towards strengthening the FSC global certification system with understanding of its biodiversity impact, which can be a positive change for the entire forest management sector.