IonE Biodiversity Workshop Series Encourages Cross-Sector Collaboration

What can we do about it?

Researchers like IonE postdoctoral fellow Sam Reed are thinking about ways to protect and restore biodiversity, but research can only go so far – real results come when different sectors work together toward a common goal.

“Because consumerism is leading to this biodiversity crisis, it’s imperative to get the private sector involved in identifying solutions,” says Reed. “What might surprise people is that many companies are already thinking about biodiversity because their supply chain and products depend on natural resources and stability in the biosphere.”

Bringing the major players together

While companies are beginning to think about biodiversity, most aren’t equipped with the knowledge needed to make significant changes, which is why Reed and IonE Executive Director Jessica Hellmann decided to launch a biodiversity and nature-based solutions workshop to bring together a diverse group of academic, business, and community leaders.

These workshops are an off-shoot of the Midwest Carbon Leadership Project, which works to identify ways to achieve carbon neutrality, explains Hellmann. While nature can sequester carbon, it’s also important to keep ecosystems diverse to improve their resilience and health.

“At the last project gathering, we explored the link between corporate efforts to decarbonize and emerging efforts to monitor and account for efforts to reduce impact on biodiversity. This workshop is taking that topic and diving deeper – the workshop’s findings will eventually make it back to the Midwest Carbon Leadership Project so that all participants benefit,” says Hellmann.

Through four three-hour workshops, representatives from the University of Minnesota, Xcel Energy, Andersen Corporation, Cargill, Esri, Mortenson Construction, Barr Engineering, The Nature Conservancy, the Natural Capital Project, Friends of the Mississippi River, Great River Greening, and others got the opportunity to sit in the same room and brainstorm about biodiversity conservation.

Workshop participants learn from each other

These workshops are focused on two primary goals: helping businesses incorporate biodiversity into their sustainability planning and helping researchers understand what motivates companies to make decisions on behalf of biodiversity.

“Ecologists and other researchers who think about biodiversity don’t really interact with anyone from the private sector – this is a way for them to come together and identify regional solutions,” says Reed. “As for businesses, they’re eager to figure out how to meet regulatory requirements and reduce the risks they might face due to their dependence on healthy ecosystems.”

The workshops were also meant to be an antidote to greenwashing, the practice of using vague sustainability motions and terminologies for marketing purposes, by bringing together a diverse group with a focus on locally oriented collaboration and an interest in realistic and tangible actions.

“Biodiversity – and sustainability more broadly– presents complex challenges that require cross-sector solutions,” says Audrey Broback, a senior sustainability consultant at Xcel Energy and one of the workshop’s industry participants. “Because Xcel Energy plays a central role in the sustainability plans of many businesses across Minnesota, it was important to me that Xcel Energy showed up to support these efforts and demonstrate our commitment to learning and evolving beyond decarbonization.”

UMN ecologist Forest Isbell, a workshop participant who studies the causes and consequences of changes in biodiversity in forests and grasslands, says, “I have worked quite a bit at the science-policy interface and have learned that more engagement is needed at the science-business interface. These workshops are leading novel discussions at an important frontier.”

Cross-sector co-creation at work

Though led by Reed, this workshop series wasn’t meant to be overly prescriptive: the first workshop gave attendees an opportunity to bring up motivations and major questions relating to biodiversity efforts and those initial conversations shaped the following workshops. Participants were also encouraged to provide feedback through surveys sent after each workshop. Through these mechanisms and earnest conversations, and with each participant offering a different perspective and experience, the group has the unique opportunity to learn from each other.

“Some of the ideas we’ve come up with are evidence of the value of cross-sector collaborations, which can be quite rare,” says Reed. Some of these ideas are currently being considered by the corporate partners involved.

For ecologist Isbell, a conversation with a workshop participant from Andersen Corporation helped bring a clearer vision: “She explained a bit about how their supply chains depend on a certain tree species. I’ve always thought about the flow of wood from harvests to some abstract market. This made some of the opportunities for improving supply chains more tangible.”

“The most valuable part of the workshop has been the expertise provided by IonE,” says Broback. “Together we’re exploring innovative ways to integrate nature-based solutions into Xcel Energy’s sustainability strategy. I’m excited to pressure test these ideas.”

What’s next?

After the final workshop, which focuses on how new products and innovations can be made nature-positive, IonE will provide the group and a broader audience with a toolbox of all the different products created during the workshop series, such as a biodiversity goal setting template, a list of biodiversity actions that companies have taken, and a template for developing the perfect pitch to encourage leadership to consider biodiversity actions and nature-based solutions.

“These archival materials will be posted and accessible on our website, allowing organizations to learn from our work group’s deliberations,” says IonE Executive Director Hellmann. “We’ll also be producing research products that explore variation in corporate ambition around biodiversity targets and reporting.”

For Reed, he takes away a deeper understanding of the corporate world. “It’s been a big learning curve as I’m so used to talking about on-the-ground forest management and interacting with academics, government officials, and NGOs. Now I feel like I have learned how to more effectively engage with the private sector.”

When asked if these workshops make him feel hopeful, Reed says, “More like measured optimism. I feel optimistic by interacting with people who care, and I now know that there are people in the private sector who do care. They put a lot of hours into these workshops and they showed up when they didn’t have to, but this is only the start of what companies need to do to conserve and restore biodiversity. We need a new license to operate for biodiversity, where companies must support ecosystems and surrounding communities wherever they are.”

Reed recently finished his postdoctoral fellowship and now serves as Climate and Conservation Manager at Friends of the Boundary Waters. He will return to lead the final workshop this November. This workshop was made possible through funding from the Heising-Simons Foundation.