The Zoological Society of London (ZSL), a charity founded in 1826, is a world-renowned centre of excellence for conservation science and applied conservation. ZSL’s mission is to promote and achieve the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. This is realised by carrying out field conservation and research in over 50 countries across the globe and through education and awareness-raising at our two zoos, ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, inspiring people to take conservation action.
ZSL recognises the significant threat posed by irresponsible and unsustainable business practice to global biodiversity and the landscapes in which we work. The Business and Biodiversity programme works to address these threats and to deliver a ZSL mission target to ensure best practice is business-as-usual in at least 1 million km2 of priority production landscape. The programme works with in-country colleagues to provide technical support and undertake activities to ensure conservation success, with projects in particular within Indonesia and Cameroon related to oil palm, timber, pulp and paper, rubber and mining; and a supporting advisory role with other country programmes. The programme also works at the global scale, participating in technical working groups and delivering the SPOTT initiative, an engagement platform between investors and producers to address the lack of corporate transparency and accountability that hinders progress towards sustainability in high biodiversity impact commodity sectors.