The leading source of corporate
responsibility and sustainability, press releases, reports and
news.

Advanced
Search

Feature your CSRwire report
with us

Enter Company Name or
Ticker

TIAA-CREF
Creates New Director of Social Investing Post
But Refrains From Some SRI Strategies

Gap
and Nike Engage Stakeholders For Assurance
Statements on Sustainability Reports

Thinking
Outside the Big-Box: Report Suggests Smart
Growth for Retailer Siting Decisions

More
Headlines

Printer-friendly version
Send to a friend

07/18/2005

Press release
from: Earthwatch Institute

Earthwatch
Calls On Private Sector To Act On MEA Business &
Industry Synthesis Report

(CSRwire) A new scientific
report released this week reinforces the need for
business and industry action to protect natural systems
for the sake of continued business success as well as
the operating environment they require to function
effectively. Major changes that will have a profound
affect on business include climate change, loss of
biodiversity and water scarcity; all essential for human
well being, according to Earthwatch Institute (Europe).

The new Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Business & Industry Synthesis Report
confirms that many of the world’s ecosystems are in
serious decline, and the continuing supply of critical
ecosystem services is now in jeopardy. The loss or
degradation of these ecosystem services will profoundly
affect businesses and
society, resulting in higher
operating costs or reduced operating flexibility, unless
significant action is taken to reduce operational
footprints.

“This really is a clarion call to
business and industry to get much more involved with
environmental conservation as a matter of considerable
urgency.” said Dr Roger Mitchell, Chief Scientist and
Director of Research and Education at Earthwatch
Institute (Europe). “The report removes any doubt about
the dramatic reduction of our natural wealth, indeed our
global capital assets, by the ever increasing demands
for food, freshwater, timber, fibre and fuel. This has
happened more rapidly and extensively in the last 50
years that at any other period, and the demand, with its
accompanying impact on ecosystems, is likely to continue
growing over the next 50 years too.”

Many
governments, NGO’s and leading companies are already
taking action. Earthwatch Institute (Europe) has already
partnered with Cadbury Schweppes and the Ghana Nature
Conservation Research Centre (NCRC) to work on a three
year project to integrate sound ecological principles
with economic farm practices to reduce the impact on the
forest environment. The project encourages new farming
methods to support the production of quality cocoa beans
whilst maintaining and enhancing habitats for birds and
other wildlife to support an ecotourism initiative to
improve the farmers’ long term financial security.

“The work we do every day is about finding
solutions to the very issues the report says the private
sector must confront,” said David Hillyard, Director of
Programme Development at Earthwatch Institute (Europe).
“Leading companies are already aware of the issues and
are working to address them. However, there is a need
for a far broader business engagement and also for
business, NGOs and Government to work effectively
together to address change at a much more significant
level and pace.”

Earthwatch Institute (Europe)
is also currently developing a partnership with
Mitsubishi Corporation, the Nature Protection Trust of
Seychelles (NPTS) and the Coral Reef Research Unit
(CRRU) to initiate a detailed field investigation on the
community ecology of coral reef systems and related
habitats at Silhouette Island in the Republic of
Seychelles. Although still in development stages, the
project will study the diversity of fauna in the coral
reef and mangrove areas, identifying important
communities and species for long term monitoring. The
results of the study will be used to make
recommendations for the conservation of the largest and
least known of the Seychelle’s marine parks.
“We
have known for a long time that solutions to the
environmental problems we face require the active
participation and support of the private sector and we
work with many leading companies to achieve progress,”
added Hillyard.

Earthwatch Institute (Europe) is an international
environmental organisation whose mission is to engage
people worldwide in scientific field research and
education to promote the understanding and action
necessary for a sustainable environment.

Earthwatch Institute (Europe) is the European
affiliate of Earthwatch Institute, which is based in the
USA and founded in Boston in 1971. Other affiliate
offices in the Earthwatch Institute network are based in
Australia and Japan.

Earthwatch Institute (Europe)’s Corporate
Environmental Responsibility Group (CERG) is a platform
for enhancing good practice amongst the business sector.
CERG members benefit from: Networking and shared
learning with other companies committed to good
environmental practice; Stakeholder dialogue through
report/policy feedback services and Disseminating good
practice through presentations at Earthwatch seminars.

Earthwatch Institute (Europe) develops Biodiversity
Work Programmes in order to support and encourage best
practice amongst companies committed to responsible
management of biodiversity.

Our global portfolio of field projects provide a
multitude of opportunities to engage corporate employees
and other stakeholders in environmental research in a
unique way. In 2003/04 Earthwatch ran employee
engagement programmes with 12 companies, sending a total
of 437 of their employees as sponsored ‘Fellows’ on
Earthwatch projects around the world.

For more information please
contact:

Sabrina
Bhangoo
Earthwatch Institute
(Europe)
[email-masked]
+44
(0) 1865 318820
http://www.earthwatch.org/

If you find this article
interesting, enter your email and receive free weekly
email alerts:

Please contact us at: [email-masked],
Tel: 802-251-0110 with any questions.

Home |
Releases | Reports | Events | Resources
| Books |
Alerts | Members | Partners |
Green
Dream Jobs | Contact
CSRwire

Issuers of news releases and not CSRwire are solely
responsible for the accuracy of the content.

© Copyright 2005, CSRwire, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Terms of
Use | Privacy
Policy

Created and maintained by

web development services