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Open letter backed by 132 companies

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Countries set plans ahead of COP16 talks

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Backers include Danone, RWE, Teck Resources ( TECK ), Holcim

By Simon Jessop and Jake Spring

LONDON/SAO PAULO, July 16 (Reuters) - More than 100

companies, including Unilever ( UL ), L'Occitane and

Iberdrola, have called on governments to enact tougher

policies to reach a U.N. goal on halting nature loss by the end

of the decade.

With more than 1 million species on the brink of extinction,

the world agreed to a landmark deal in 2022 to protect

biodiversity, including a pledge to protect 30% of the world's

natural ecosystems.

Countries will convene at the COP16 biodiversity summit in

October in Colombia to work out the details of implementing the

pledge.

In a letter shared exclusively with Reuters ahead of the

talks, 132 companies with combined revenues of $1.1 trillion

demanded stronger action.

Other companies that signed the call for action - on

measures ranging from subsidy reform to water use and farming

practices - include miner Teck Resources ( TECK ), food group

Danone, energy company RWE and cement maker Holcim

.

Humans are decimating wildlife by destroying native

ecosystems, polluting nature and driving climate change.

Whatever the financial cost of preventative measures, some

of those backing the letter have said the much bigger cost would

be from lost species as food production relies on dwindling

numbers of pollinators, for instance, and disrupted water

systems that depend on vulnerable ecosystems.

"If we don't focus on nature, if we don't focus on

biodiversity, the business that we operate may not even exist in

years to come," said Rishi Kalra, executive director and group

chief financial officer of Olam Food Ingredients (ofi), one of

the world's biggest suppliers of food and beverage ingredients.

For example, the company relies on bees to pollinate its

almond farms, Kalra said in an interview.

"Food may not be available. People may not have a livelihood

if nature is not protected."

Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, for

example, has reduced rainfall and shifted weather patterns in

critical farming areas that supply a major portion of the

world's soybeans and beef.

"Without nature, without water, it's impossible to have

human life, not even thriving, but just existing," Nestle Latin

America CEO Laurent Freixe said.

Because nature-friendly strategies may increase costs in the

shorter term, some companies have been reluctant to act unless

governments set market-wide rules or offer the incentives needed

to compel action.

Voluntary corporate action would not be enough alone, said

the letter, coordinated by advocacy group Business For Nature,

which has drawn up policy recommendations.

Governments, the letter said, needed to ensure businesses

and financial actors protect and restore nature.

Further action must include ensuring sustainable resource

use, valuing and embedding nature in decision-making and

disclosure and stronger global agreements to address nature

loss.