Renewed global partnership for biodiversity
HeidelbergCement and BirdLife International sign new Memorandum of Understanding
AFTER six fruitful years of collaboration, HeidelbergCement and BirdLife International have renewed their global partnership, which is based on shared values of promoting biodiversity while using natural resources sustainably.
‘In the past, BirdLife and its national partner organizations have helped us maximize the role our sites can play for biodiversity through better management of quarry operations and habitat creation post-extraction,’ said Dr Bernd Scheifele, chief executive officer of HeidelbergCement, after signing the new Memorandum of Understanding in 2018.
‘Our partnership is the perfect combination of global commitment and local action, which is why we look forward to opening the next chapter of our collaboration.’
The overall purpose of the partnership is to continue strengthening each organization’s ability to achieve sustainable development and provide better protection for biodiversity at local sites, national and international levels, and increase scientific as well as public knowledge about the high value of quarries to biodiversity.
Summarizing the goals the partners have set themselves for the next three years, Shane Sparg, BirdLife’s conservation partnership manager, said: ‘Using our expertise at an international and national level, we will work with HeidelbergCement employees across the business to engage and upskill them on habitat and species management, working together towards a positive impact on biodiversity.’
The Partnership has already celebrated many successes, for example safeguarding common tern populations and establishing an invasive alien species eradication programme. Building on this, Birdlife will focus on supporting HeidelbergCement in achieving the company’s Sustainability Commitments 2030, working towards the UN goal of halting biodiversity loss.
Since the beginning of the collaboration in 2011, the partners have funded 25 projects and initiatives across Europe, Africa and Asia, with a total budget of more than €700,000.
