Lafarge Canada announced its key role in the massive conservation effort undertaken in the sensitive Great Lakes region as a partner with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). The NCC’s Manitoulin Island acquisition is one of its largest-ever in Ontario.
With a $16-million price tag, the initiative relied heavily on the support of many partners. Lafarge Canada provided a donation of $100,000, with additional planned support in future years to enhance the conserved land’s biodiversity and educational value.
“This is a big land area now held in trust for nature by NCC,” explained Rob Cumming, head of environment and sustainability for Eastern Canada. “It’s an area similar to 3,800 city blocks of forests, wetlands and shoreline that the NCC will protect. Lafarge is using this opportunity to start a new relationship with the NCC and anticipates the organization will be a key contributor to its biodiversity efforts and sustainability strategy.”
“Sustainability is a broad concept,” said David Redfern, CEO of Lafarge in Eastern Canada. “We use a variety of metrics to measure our success and establish the areas where we can make significant biodiversity progress. Working with partners like the NCC opens up doors to opportunities like this, but more importantly, this opens the opportunity to become strategic partners in our efforts in biodiversity. With nearly 45,000 hectares of land across Canada, Lafarge has vast land assets where the NCC’s expertise will help us find effective ways to manage and enhance biodiversity.”
Lafarge’s sustainability initiatives extend beyond biological conservation programs, and include recycling sand, gravel and concrete to conserve virgin resources and award-winning rehabilitation projects.