Supporting External Initiatives

Supporting biodiversity related initiatives and organisations is an important and efficient way in which to promote biodiversity and contribute towards positive biodiversity impacts. By supporting conservation initiatives a company can not only make a significant contribution towards these programmes, but gain access to new networks and information. Many companies will donate funds in order to help raise their profiles and build good relations with their stakeholders.

In addition to committing funding, there are many other opportunities to help conservation work. These include:

• supplying resources such as office facilities, vehicles or tools;
• building capacity of the conservation organisations through offering training, for instance in financial or project management;
• providing in-kind support or assistance such as administration services;
• supporting employee engagement programmes
• delivering on activities in work programmes of biodiversity organisations

Some organisations, such as Earthwatch’s Corporate Environmental Responsibility Group (CERG), Industry Nature Conservation Association (INCA) and many of the Wildlife Trusts have membership schemes designed specifically for the business sector. A list of conservation based organisations is provided on the Organisations page.

In the UK, companies may contribute to the UK Biodiversity Action Plan at either the local or national level by sponsoring a particular Species or Habitat Action Plan or supporting a Local Biodiversity Partnership. Companies can become "Species or Habitat Champions" sponsoring species or habitats by contacting the lead partners who are listed on the UK BAP web site. Companies can also become directly involved on a local level by contacting and even joining a Biodiversity Partnership in their area.

Alternatively, companies can support specific projects or activities – such as research into conservation issues, redevelopment of a habitat or management of a reserve.

Supporting Biodiversity Initiatives can form the basis of long term partnerships, such as the British American Tobacco Biodiversity Partnership (BATBP) where business and conservation organisations come together to contribute towards meeting the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) while enhancing their own abilities to conserve and manage biodiversity.

Photo Credit: April Harlin/ Earthwatch Institute