It's been a good week and now I’m sitting on the TGV to Paris after participating in a conference at the UN in Geneve about Biodiversity in the luxury industry which cumulated in an ethical fashion show held in the controversial UN Chamber of Human Rights & Alliance of Civilizations.

The conference entitled “Redefining Sustainability in the International Agenda” came out of a discussion a group of us had in London during early winter 2009, sitting around a table in the lobby of a Bloomsbury hotel.

Present at the table were Dr Jem Bendell (Lifeworth Consulting and co-author of the Deeper Luxury Report), Eduardo Escobedo (UNCTAD), Jenny White (Eco-Boudoir) and myself. We were four members of a fledgling think tank of sorts which we had called the “Authentic Luxury Association”. The one thing we all had in common was that we were all passionate about both the environment and the luxury industry. It was and is our belief that luxury could be used as a tool to further constructive debate about sustainable consumption.

The discussions were focused around what we could do as a small group in order to make a difference.

Each year the UN General Assembly chooses to dedicate the year to a particular cause and 2009 was declared the International Year of Natural Fibers. Thus it seemed logical that with two of us having a background in fashion that we should consider staging the first ever fashion show at Palais des Nations in the UN.

Jem mentioned the work he had being doing with Eco-Chic in Hong Kong and how he believed that he could get them involved to help on logistics. Eduardo loved the idea and shortly had drafted a proposal which he had sent to all of us upon his return to Geneva and thus the idea was born in no small part due almost wholly to his drive and dedication. It was decided early on by Eduardo that a fashion show on its own would not be strong enough and so the idea was evolved to become a conference with UNCTAD arranging the conference and Eco-Chic taking care of the show itself.

The original plan was to have the conference ready for Fall 2009, but as is sadly far too often typical of even the best laid plans, delays happen and in this case it meant that the conference wouldn’t ultimately take place until the 20-21 January 2010. However it was a New Year and so the International Year of Natural Fibers was over and it was now the International Year of Biodiversity.

I hope you bear with me if I diverge a bit to here to talk about the meaning of Biodiversity; as one of the facts that was highlighted at the conference was that when a poll was taken to ask people what it meant, most thought it was a washing detergent.... It’s a sad fact that Biodiversity is often overlooked and misunderstood by the general public who are constantly fed information on issues such as Climate Change but fail to understand the intrinsic importance of what is arguably the foundation for many of the social and environmental problems we face today.

According to the UN, Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth. It includes all insects, animals and plants, the places they live and their surrounding environments. We rely on this diversity of life to provide us with the food, fuel, medicine and other essentials that we simply cannot live without, such as fuel, medicine and clothing. Yet this rich diversity is being lost at a greatly accelerated rate because of human activities. This impoverishes us all and weakens the ability of the living systems, on which we depend, to resist growing threats such as climate change.

So there you have it. Biodiversity is the very fabric which interweaves all life together in a delicate balance. Upset that balance and you bear the responsibility of your actions whether it is global warming left unconstrained by the clear cutting of vast swathes of rainforests in South America or the permanent loss of countless species of animals and plants due to the unchecked expansion of man in his quest for natural resources.

But back to the conference where I felt privileged to be chairing a panel on luxury entitled "The Influence of Affluence: Luxury Brands as Sustainable Role Models" on which sat a group of well respected names in the industry which included Burak Cakmak (Gucci Group), Maria Eugenia Giron (ex-Loewe), Pamela Caillens (Cartier) and Willem Wijnstekers (Secretary-General of CITES).

I know that many people are sceptical of the luxury industry – especially since it is often misaligned with that of conspicuous consumption. But ultimately it is an industry which has the ability to transform and influence far beyond its boundaries. It is also arguably one of the most sustainable forms of consumption if one considers the brands within the luxury industry who are creating quality and durability which lasts rather than that of fashion and trends. It is for this reason that it is so important to help the luxury industry create a positive message.

So it was good to hear companies like Cartier and Gucci talking about the initiatives they're doing no matter how small or grand. I know it's easy to feel dubious about some of the claims that the bigger players like these make but ultimately any step no matter how small is a step in the right direction which should be encouraged and not nitpicked. After all you wouldn’t raise a child by only criticising their less desirable actions and failing to praise their positive ones, so you can’t expect to build a positive industry only through negative criticism. Change will come and the more we encourage it the quicker it will happen.

But it is this negative and counter productive critique, which many of us so happily dish out on the big corporates, which causes many of the changes which they are instigating to be done quietly under the radar for fear of being labelled as green-wash. It’s a shame really as those changes could be held up to show and teach other companies in the hopes of inspiring further change. It will also encourage the companies which are making changes to push ahead with further changes. Surely that is a good thing?

And here is where I imagine that it must be hard for people like Burak and Pamela trying to instigate change within large established organisations. Change, even if embraced, must surely come slowly.

But ultimately it was great to see an event where the passion was starting to show through. Where there was positive and constructive debate. Eduardo and his colleagues at the UN should be proud of themselves. They managed to pull together both excellent panellists and an equally great and engaged audience to create a memorable event which I hope will be the first of many.