?
T
Cyprus has
by far the
highest per
capita rate
of concreted
land in Europe
he concept of sustainability,
China increased the use of chemic
al pestiwhether applied to business
cides on pear orchards, thereby dev
astating
or the planet, is similar: are
the bee population. Now, thousan
ds of
you taking out more than
villagers go through the trees with
bott
you are able to put back
pollen, brushing the millions of blos les of
into your core business? Are you
soms
using up
with a feather brush!
more resources (such as ground wat
er) than
You could say that ecoservices (the
the planet is able to provide on an
goods
ongoing
and services provided by nature)
basis? One could say that our two
are largely
maj
the ‘business (or working) side’ of
banks in Cyprus were not thinking or
a more
sustain- general concept, that
of biodiversity. The
ably when they allowed such eno
rmous
latter implies the biological diversity
outflows in terms of bad investm
of
ents/bad
living organisms on the planet: peo all
debts, while the prospect of alternat
ple,
ive
animals, plants and the ecosystems
inflows was unlikely. But sustaina
that
Are we powerless to prevent this
bilit
support them. Biodiversity is, adm
negative
more than cash flow; it’s also a que y is
ittedly,
scenario? No, each one can play
stion of
a nebulous concept and it may be
a part on a
knowing all your assets and valuing
difficult
personal or professional level. Star
them
to see how the world of living thin
ting with
correctly.
gs relates Elkington and Burke in the
late ‘80s, the
to you personally and why, for inst
Whereas classical economics has
ance, it
literature is full of examples of how
been
matters if you protect the Cyprus
business
fixated on defining capital in narr
tulip, a
can make money and protect the
ow ecowild flower found in Cyprus and
environnomic terms (even the workforce
nowhere
ment. In fact, the new thinking is
was once
else in the world. Quite apart from
that
seen as a disposable commodity),
the
business is in itself big business, and ecofew exec- fact that there are
any
only about 6,000 tulip
utives today, when assessing thei
business is more attractive to its cust
r business,
plants to be found in two or thre
omers,
would disregard such less tangible
e locations staff and investors if it min
assets as
imizes its ecoand so it would be a pity not to see
the skill, expertise and sense of secu
them
logical footprint. “Doing the righ
rity
around any more, there are other
t thing”
their workforce, the company’s goo of
more
is a powerful motivator at work;
d will/
compelling reasons for protecting
after all,
good name in the market, etc.
biodiver- business people are not just
money-making
sity. The argument is that the mo
Your financial capital plus your soci
re diverse
automatons; they are, or will be,
al
the genetic pool we possess, the mo
parents
capital (e.g. job satisfaction, image
re
and grandparents. They cannot be
in soresilient the species, and the bett
indifciety) are two pillars of the sustaina
er we are
ferent about the world they will
bility
able to resist natural or man-made
pass on to
equation; there is also a third pilla
destructheir children. Some Cypriot com
r, and
tion. It is the same principle, for
panies,
that is environmental protection.
instance,
though not the majority, have ado
“Why
that makes monocultures so vuln
pted
should such an externality come
erable. So
environmentally-friendly practice
into the
the Cyprus tulip or other Cypriot
s beyond
equation?’’ asks the classical econ
endemic
the legal minimum, especially in
omist,
species, such as the moufflon or
the hotel
and the answer might be that ther
the gras
industry, although they don’t yet
e is no
snake, are worth preserving not only sadvertise
such thing as an externality. Accord
for
it as well as they could.
ing to
their own sake but because they
contemporary thinking, we are all
form part
There is no doubt, however, that
part of a
of an enormous gene pool that sup
many
system that includes you, me, you
ports life Cypriots have lived unsusta
r fact
inably in the
on earth as we know it. Remove
and also the birds and bees and the ory
one piece
last two decades. Too much con
nearby
and you upset the balance. Pieces
sumerism
river. Although the notion of sust
have,
has led to too much debt, over-in
ainability
of course, been removed through
vestment
can be – and has been – applied
out the
in land with only one prospect (dev
at various
ages as some species have become
eloplevels, true sustainability (i.e. the
extinct
ment), natural assets disregarded
ability to
and been replaced by others. But
, and
survive and thrive while using up
the last
wealth measured only in constru
fewer
hundred years have seen an unprece
ction and
resources) is, according to the WW
dented
material assets. (According to the
F and
number of species disappearing and
Biodiverothers, a systemic concept. It imp
, acsity Strategy for Cyp