CEMEX and BirdLife renew their partnership
Three-year renewal following decade of successful biodiversity conservation around the globe
FOLLOWING a decade of conservation action across several continents, CEMEX have this week announced the renewal of their partnership with BirdLife International, the world’s largest nature conservation partnership.
The three-year renewal of the global partnership is expected to achieve CEMEX’s goal of implementing Biodiversity Action Plans across the totality of the company’s active quarries in high biodiversity value areas by 2020, continuing their efforts to achieve environmentally sustainable development.
Throughout the past 10 years this global alliance has built from the foundation of an in-depth scoping study to the launch of CEMEX-BirdLife Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) Standard – a framework for identifying, protecting and enhancing biodiversity that, is currently being implemented in 69% of CEMEX’s active quarries in high biodiversity value areas.
The results of the alliance’s national collaborations in Colombia, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, France, Mexico, Spain, the UK, and other CEMEX operations have been widely recognized by organizations such as the European Aggregates Association (UEPG), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Cement Sustainability Initiative, the European Union Natura 2000 awards, the Mineral Products Association (MPA), and the Wildlife Habitat Council.
CEMEX and BirdLife’s joint efforts have significantly improved the biodiversity of CEMEX’s quarries, such as their Cerrito Blanco Quarry in north-western Mexico. As a result of this BAP implementation, Mexico’s national bird, the golden eagle, is benefiting from a focused conservation effort, including enhancing habitat quality.
Other highlights include the restoration of 1,000 hectares of priority habitat in the UK, the sector-leading conservation of highly threatened reptiles through the Las Salinas BAP in the Dominican Republic, and the preservation of two Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) species as a result of the La Nacuma BAP in Colombia.
‘For 10 years, BirdLife International has been instrumental in helping us to protect the biodiversity that surrounds our operations and in creating environmental conditions similar to or better than those that were present at the beginning of our quarries’ life cycles,’ said Jesus Gonzalez, CEMEX’s executive vice-president of sustainability and operations development.
‘With many success stories behind us, we believe that, by partnering with organizations such as BirdLife, we are truly delivering on our commitment to build a better future for generations to enjoy.’
Patricia Zurita, chief executive officer of BirdLife International, said: ‘Our global partnership with CEMEX demonstrates the strong positive impact we can have for nature when conservation NGOs and businesses work together.
‘We are delighted to be able to continue our joint efforts with CEMEX to conserve high-priority species and enhance biodiversity management in Key Biodiversity Areas – sites of global importance for nature. We look forward to at least three more years of successful collaboration.’
