“Bio..... what?” is a question we are often asked when we talk about biodiversity. What is it all about and why is it important?
Biodiversity refers to:
The dramatic loss of biodiversity is just as big a threat to humanity as climate change. Why?
In its Living Planet Report, the WWF has measured a 58 percent decline in animal populations over the past forty years. 14,000 animal populations studied have more than halved.
Whether fertile soils, clean water or fresh air, human survival depends on an intact nature. Planet Earth is still providing these "services" for us at the moment – not to mention the special "services" of a high diversity of species:
We are almost at the end of the United Nations Decade of Biological Diversity (more about that here). The Federal Republic of Germany even has an official "National Strategy on Biological Diversity".
Have you ever heard of it? Probably not – biodiversity has an image problem.
Unfortunately, this hasn’t yet changed the economic view of species extinction. The TEEB study (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) calculates the value of biodiversity in monetary terms.
The loss of biodiversity and the destruction of natural habitats means that we are losing vital goods and irreplaceable services. It would take a large amount of personnel, technical and financial resources to replace what an intact natural world offers us free of charge. The costs would be exorbitant – 50 billion euro per year in Europe alone.
Our cooperation partner, the WWF Germany, has identified the following primary causes for the loss of biological diversity:
VAUDE was one of the first companies to carry out a Biodiversity Check as part of the EU Business & Biodiversity Campaign. In a 2010 workshop, the entire executive committee and many of our managers came together under the guidance of the Bodenseestiftung to identify the impact of our business activities on biodiversity. We also wanted to know how we, as a company, benefit from biodiversity and what steps we should take to protect it.
We then commissioned an external consultancy agency to create a Biodiversity Concept for our Tettnang-Obereisenbach site. More about it here.
Of course, the manufacturing and processing processes of VAUDE products also have an impact on biodiversity. The more resource-conserving we work, the less water, energy and materials, but also chemicals we use, the better it is for the planet.
You yourself can make a contribution with your personal shopping behavior. Looking for ideas? Take a look at the page www.nachhaltiger-warenkorb.de.
GRI: | 304-1 |
GRI: | 304-2 |
GRI: | 304-3 |
GRI: | 304-4 |
GRI: | 103 |