The nonprofit Conservation International can claim to have redefined how conservation organizations work with major corporations, enlisted them as equal partners, and worked with them to implement environmentally friendly and sustainable practices.
Starting in 1987 they conducted first Debt-for-Nature Swap. The first-ever debt swap with the government of Bolivia, which agrees to put $600,000 toward conservation in exchange for debt relief.
By 1998 they were ‘Creating New Enterprise Approaches’ and joined with Starbucks to show that a simple cup of coffee can be a powerful conservation tool, helping farmers in some ecologically rich areas grow environmentally sensitive crops. To date, Starbucks has purchased more than 8 million pounds of Conservation CoffeeTM from these farmers.
But it was not until 2000 that they focused their energies on Engaging the Private Sector by establishing the Center for Environmental Leadership in thanks to a $25-million, five-year grant from Ford Motor Company. The center has its own site at: http://www.celb.org/xp/CELB/
Going to scale; in 2001 a $261-million gift from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation ramped up the scale and impact of CI’s work. The largest grant of its kind in the history of conservation funds CI’s Global Conservation Fund and the Tropical Ecology, Assessment, and Monitoring Network, and supports four major Centers for Biodiversity Conservation in the Tropical Andes, Brazil/Guianas, Melanesia, and Madagascar
Starbucks has just invested $7.5 million to extend in their decade long partnership with Conservation International that will take conservation beyond coffee farms and into surrounding landscapes to address the most pressing environmental issue of our day —- climate change. The 5 year project, will begin in Mexico and Indonesia, where Starbucks and CI will leverage their global scale to pilot landscape scale projects across all coffee growing regions — Asia, Africa, and Latin America — that create climate solutions through the protection of standing forests and restoration of degraded landscapes.
Their strategy will focus on reinforcing and expanding the potential of Starbucks ethical coffee buying guidelines, Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices to support farmer activities that keep carbon on the ground, protect important habitat for the world’s plant and animal species, and help farmlands become more resilient against what are predicted to be the devastating effects of climate change. Project activities may ultimately create an opportunity for farmers to diversify their incomes through access to emerging international carbon markets. Learn more about this new phase of the partnership.
The Center for Environmental Leadership in Business (CELB) http://www.celb.org/xp/CELB/ is also engaged with Wal-Mart, an important supporter of CI, to minimize the “environmental footprint” of their stores, warehouses, and distribution network.
The full list of COUNCIL MEMBERS
• Bank of America
• Cargill
• Coca-Cola
• DuPont
• Ford Motor Company
• Gap Inc.
• General Mills, Inc
• General Growth Properties, Inc
• Hyatt
• Kraft Foods Inc.
• Limited Brands
• McDonald’s
• Office Depot
• Royal Caribbean
• SC Johnson
• Shell Group
• Starbucks Coffee Company
• United Airlines
• United Technologies
• Wal-Mart
• The Walt Disney Company
• Weyerhaeuser Company
• WhiteWave Foods
COUNCIL FACTSHEET
• Business and Biodiversity Council Factsheet (pdf, 674 kb)
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