Heidelberg and BirdLife International biodiversity partnership
Today, BirdLife International, a world leader in nature conservation, and HeidelbergCement launched a
biodiversity partnership. The primary goal of this partnership, for which the global Memorandum of
Understanding was signed on September 16th, is to further improve the protection of biodiversity at
quarry sites in Europe, through collaboration with BirdLife at international, national and local level.
The co-operation is initially scheduled to last three years. In the first year, a biodiversity strategy for
Europe will be developed jointly. The strategy will also include goals for the protection of species
and habitats. In the second year, joint biodiversity projects will be formulated in different countries.
Local management, in particular, will be involved, alongside the national partners of BirdLife
International. From the third year, the first pilot projects in Europe will be implemented and
documented.
BirdLife Europe hopes that this collaboration will inspire other companies with an impact on the
environment to first minimise it and then proactively restore biodiversity. We aim to demonstrate
the many benefits of working together at global and local levels to increase sustainability in the use
of natural resources.
“At BirdLife, we are really encouraged to see that a global leader like HeidelbergCement is taking the
concept of sustainability to the next level by aiming to give back to nature more than was received,
creating a real win-win situation for biodiversity”, said Angelo Caserta, Regional Director of BirdLife
Europe. “By bringing into this partnership our scientific approach and local to global conservation
expertise, BirdLife will assist HeidelbergCement in strengthening its position as a company truly
concerned about reducing its impact on the environment.“
"After more than 15 years of experience in biodiversity management, we now welcome BirdLife as an
excellent partner to enlarge the scientific knowledge about biodiversity in mining sites and to amplify our
current biodiversity policy", said Daniel Gauthier, member of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement
and leading the Environmental Sustainability strategy for the Group. "Together we will start by analysing and optimising our existing work. We will then develop species protection programmes for endangered
species living in our European quarries. We will also analyse the potential to use our quarries as a
network for nature protection and migration corridors."
BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to
conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability
in the use of natural resources. The BirdLife Partnership operates in 117 countries and territories
worldwide. BirdLife Europe supports the European and Central Asian Partnership for BirdLife
International and is present in 45 countries and all EU Member States.
Published under Cement News
