The Global Business Summit for the Environment, to take place Thursday and Friday, will be the first major international conference focusing on business and the environment in Asia, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

UNEP organised the event with the United Nations Global Compact, an initiative that brings companies together with UN and other agencies to support environmental and social principles.

Delegates plan to examine how the private sector, governments and non-government organisations (NGOs) can cooperate to ensure development that balances economic, social and environmental factors, the organisers said.

"The systematic damage and destruction of the world's forests, freshwaters, fisheries and other economically important ecosystems are failures of policy and failures of markets to capture the true value of these nature-based assets," UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said.

"Some companies now realise that future profits, if not future viability as businesses... will be based on ensuring the sustainability of these finite natural resources."

Steiner described climate change as "perhaps the most far-reaching 'market failure' of them all" and an obvious threat, but challenged companies to also see it as "a real opportunity to do business differently."

Companies around the world have been blamed for practices that have helped to pollute the environment and contributed to climate changes which experts warn could threaten the survival of animal and plant species.

A key UN report released this month warned that billions would face a higher risk of water scarcity and millions more would likely go hungry as damage to the Earth's weather systems from greenhouse gases changed rainfall patterns, powered up storms and boosted the risk of drought, flooding and water stress.

"Environmental responsibility is no longer a choice," said Georg Kell, executive director of the UN Global Compact.

"Climate change is a global problem that affects everyone. Corporations, governments, international agencies and NGOs must work together to address this issue."

Among the organisations to be represented at the Singapore meeting are the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), World Resources Institute and the Carbon Disclosure Fund.

Speakers include Kirsi Sormunen, Nokia's vice president of environmental affairs, Diana Bell, a senior vice president at Hewlett-Packard, Greenpeace International director Steve Sawyer and actress and environmental activist Daryl Hannah.

A special session on Friday will be devoted to discussing solutions to the forest-fire haze that blankets parts of Southeast Asia each year.

Organisers said delegates will also tackle an emerging trend to invest in biofuels, solar and wind power, and other environment-friendly energy sources.

Managing urbanisation, promoting eco-friendly tourism, a global water crisis, and the use of "green" materials, technology and furnishings in the building and construction industry also will be on the agenda.

More than 1.2 billion people, or about one-fifth of the world's population, lack access to drinking water, the organisers said, warning that without any action this could rise to 2.3 billion people by 2023.

A US environmental group has certified the meeting as a "carbon-free event".

Carbon emissions from the delegates' use of energy, including from their air travel, will be offset by funding renewable energy development and reforestation projects in Sri Lanka and Nepal, organisers said.

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