Environmental issues - environmental answers?

As IUCN kicks off its month long on-line debate on the future of sustainability with a 'pretty depressing litany of woes' penned by its Chief Scientist, where to turn for salvation? Why to nature, of course (albeit with some interference from the planet's dominant species).

From August 7-9, over 100 scientists met with BASF researchers to identify bio-inspired materials for the chemical industry. Sadly, I couldn't find any coverage of the outcome on the BASF website - so no sense of whether any new biomimicry breakthroughs were identified (see my previous post on biomimicry).

In the meantime, Business for Social Responsibility has released a report on ecosystem services (PDF) and why business should pay attention. This approach to valuation seems rather pedestrian compared its flashier biomimicry cousin, yes. But the fact that the concept of ecosystem services is finding is way into the business landscape bodes well, as it will need a strong entrepreneurial push in order to become routine. IFC is already active in this debate, so watch this space for future postings.

Thanks to the ever-reliable Greenbiz for covering these events.