Campaign Reminds Companies to Remember ‘Mother Nature in the Boardroom’

As the world grapples with escalating biodiversity loss, a new campaign from the
nonprofit Sea Change Project aims to remind
businesses of nature’s critical role in their survival.

“Mother Nature in the Boardroom” — centered around a moving short film by
acclaimed environmentalist, filmmaker and Sea Change Project co-founder Craig
Foster (My Octopus
Teacher), featuring
world-renowned conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall as
the voice of Mother Nature — was unveiled during Climate Week NYC. It
highlights the urgent need for decision-makers to place the planet at the heart
of economic discussions.

“How do you propose to have a sustainable economic plan without a real
biodiversity plan?” Mother Nature asks. “Neglecting to invest in me, as the
provider of your natural capital, is dangerous. You cannot keep drawing down on
me without getting into debt — a debt that threatens all life.”

Ever since COP15 Biodiversity
Summit in 2022, we’ve
seen a growing awareness of the connection between healthy biodiversity and a
healthy world — and therefore, healthy businesses. This realization has spawned
a host of corporate and government strategies for achieving the Summit’s goal of
halting and reversing nature loss by 2030
— and a corresponding explosion in
research,
tools,
science-based target
frameworks,
coalitions
and financial
mechanisms
aimed at helping companies understand, quantify and offset their impacts on the
natural world.

“Mother Nature in the Boardroom” renews attention to the imperative for
widespread action to ensure that Mother Nature is given a voice in the
boardroom, alongside corporate and political leaders making critical decisions.
The campaign ties into the mission of the International Panel for Ocean
Sustainability (IPOS) — an emerging body that aims to
support States in accelerating the sustainable management and conservation of
the ocean through actionable pathways and inclusive stakeholder engagement. The
project is currently being led by a European consortium, “Towards
IPOS.” Supported by the
European Commission and several countries, the IPOS concept is evolving
through broad consultations — with the goal of presenting a final concept at the
third UN Ocean
Conference in June
2025 for consideration.

“Mother Nature in the Boardroom” is the latest campaign that drives home the
vital role of nature by personifying Mother Nature herself: Conservation
International’s powerful 2014 “Nature Is Speaking”
series
featured Julia Roberts as Mother Nature, reminding the people of the world:
“I’ve fed species greater than you, and I have starved species greater than you.
… Your actions will determine your fate, not mine.”

And in 2023, Mother Nature — played by Octavia Spencer — dropped in for an
update from Apple’s environmental team on whether the tech giant is
fulfilling its 2020 promise to eliminate its entire carbon footprint by 2030: