Describe the measures an organization could take to minimize adverse impacts on plant and animal communities (biodiversity).

Plant and animal biodiversity are severely threatened in many areas of the world by habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, diseases, climate change, resource over-exploitation, etc. An organization can take some of the following steps to minimize their impact on plant and animal communities:

Reduce, reuse, recycle. The waste stream of any organization needs to be controlled and minimized through the 3R strategy: reduce, reuse, and recycle. These strategies will ensure that less waste is generated and less waste needs to be disposed of. This also saves energy in waste processing and disposal, and less land needs to be converted to landfills.

Compost. Making compost out of biodegradable waste not only reduces the waste but also decreases a company's dependence on fertilizers.

Use environment-friendly raw materials. An organization can switch to using environment-friendly raw materials for their operations. This reduces the synthetic and/or harmful products being released into the environment. The use of environment-friendly cleaning products is one example.

Reduce energy requirements. Energy generation is still mostly fossil-fuel dependent. This causes a degradation of our environment through waste generation (gases, fly ash, etc.). A reduction in energy use will reduce the adverse impact on our environment. An organization can buy energy-efficient appliances, such as computers, fans, air conditioners, etc.

Use renewable energy. Using energy derived from renewable sources, such as the sun (solar energy), wind (wind energy), waves, etc., is a much better option than using fossil fuels.

Use green buildings. An organization can replace the conventional buildings with green buildings, preferably certified by LEED (or other similar agencies). Green buildings have a lower lifetime impact on the environment, use less energy and water, and ensure a smaller impact on the native biodiversity.

Carpool and use public transport. An organization can support carpooling and public transport use by its employees to reduce the amount of vehicular pollution.

Donate to conservation efforts. An organization can donate resources to environmental conservation efforts to minimize the adverse impacts on plant and animal communities.