IBCSD and IUCN Launch Three-Year Partnership to Advance Corporate Biodiversity Action in Indonesia

Jakarta, 6 October 2026 — The Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have launched a three-year partnership to help companies translate biodiversity commitments into practical, measurable action. Supported by the Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund (KNCF), the partnership was introduced during the roundtable “IUCN RHINO in Indonesia: Advancing Corporate Nature Positive Action” at the Indonesia International Sustainability Forum (ISF) 2026.

The collaboration will support the application of the IUCN RHINO—Rapid High-Integrity Nature-positive Outcomes— approach in Indonesia. Built on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and the Species Threat Abatement and Restoration (STAR) metric, IUCN RHINO helps companies identify priority locations, plan interventions, and measure their contributions to reducing species extinction risk.

For businesses, protecting biodiversity is closely connected to resource availability and long-term resilience. Conservation commitments and investments therefore need to be supported by evidence about which actions can make the greatest contribution and how their results can be measured.

“Protecting nature helps safeguard resources and support business resilience over the long term. With finite budgets, businesses need to know where their conservation spending can make the greatest contribution. The IUCN RHINO approach  can support more informed decisions about sites and conservation actions, while helping teams set targets and track results,” said Dr. Indah Budiani, Executive Director of IBCSD.

Connecting Biodiversity Priorities with Business Action

The partnership supports the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and Indonesia’s Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (IBSAP) 2025–2045. To translate these priorities into business contributions, IBCSD developed KIRANAS, Indonesia’s Business Action Plan for Biodiversity 2026–2028.

This voluntary roadmap has three pillars: integrating biodiversity into business decisions; reducing pressures through changes in operations and value chains; and expanding impact through collaboration and investment. Together, they guide companies in embedding biodiversity into governance, managing operational impacts, and developing joint conservation initiatives.

The IUCN RHINO approach can support these pillars by helping companies identify priority sites, assess threats to species, and establish baselines to inform decisions. It also guides targeted interventions and monitoring, while helping partners define shared conservation objectives. This provides a practical basis for implementing KIRANAS and demonstrating measurable business contributions.

“The approach is designed to help organisations, including companies, make a defensible contribution to nature. The RHINO approach connects the places where an organisation has influence with evidence about species, ecosystems, and the pressures they face. It then supports decisions about action and a way to track the results,” said Dr Satrio Adi Wicaksono, Regional Coordinator, IUCN Asia Regional Office.

The need for practical implementation tools was also highlighted by Ir. Noer Adi Wardojo, M.Sc., Deputy for Pollution and Environmental Damage Control, who emphasised their relevance to Indonesia’s national biodiversity agenda. “The Ministry of Environment is working together with other ministries as the government moves towards nature-positive policy. Our main reference is Indonesia’s Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (IBSAP) 2025–2045. We are now implementing this strategy and action plan, and implementation requires tools and instruments. Today, we are discussing one such approach: IUCN RHINO,” he said.

Building Evidence of Conservation Outcomes

The discussion also highlighted the need for companies to understand whether their conservation investments are delivering positive outcomes. Credible measurement helps businesses evaluate their actions and demonstrate progress to internal and external stakeholders.

“The issue for us and for other big companies has been to understand whether our conservation actions are having a positive impact on nature. Internal and external stakeholders want evidence that investments in conservation are delivering measurable outcomes. That’s why we’re partnering with IUCN on the RHINO approach —not because it gives us all the answers, but because it helps us ask the right questions,” said Craig Tribolet, Director of Sustainability and External Affairs, APRIL Group.

As the next step, IBCSD and IUCN will convene their first workshop, “Turn Biodiversity Ambition into an Action Agenda,” in November 2026. The date and venue will be confirmed. The workshop will help companies identify opportunities for action and map the data, governance, and capabilities needed to apply the IUCN RHINO approach.

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