the conservation connection - pontchartrain conservancy

The Conservation Connection How on-the-ground actions for biodiversity and education can contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals

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How do we do well as a company while doing good for the world?

That question was keenly in our minds at Chemours as we developed our first Corporate Responsibility Commitment report in 2018. We pride ourselves on being a new type of chemistry company for a world that demands more. Our communities, customers and all stakeholders along our value chain expect not only high value products, but also that we, as a company, make positive contributions to some of the world’s greatest challenges.

That is why we have aligned our recently announced Corporate Responsibility Commitment goals with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We strive to meet those goals in many ways, including our work to create valuable wildlife habitats in the communities where we operate and increase biodiversity in partnership with the Wildlife Habitat Council.

At Chemours sites across the country, teams of employees are doing things great and small to improve their communities. Our people work to make a difference by coordinating and installing projects to encourage biodiversity, both on the plant sites and on adjacent lands held by our company. The work at our sites around the globe include the installation of projects to enable avian nesting, projects that enhance oyster and fish populations, simple changes to enhance biodiversity and reduce maintenance activities associated with building landscapes, and work to promote science education in the communities in which we live, work and play.

We are proud of our employee volunteers for the work they do to enhance habitats in the communities where we operate, and we’re grateful for WHC and its mission of making every act of conservation matter.

Sheryl Telford, VP EHS & Corporate Responsibility, The Chemours Company

Brian Ambrose, Global Contractor Safety & Wildlife Habitat Leader, The Chemours Company

Scouts enjoying a wetlands nature trail at Chemours’ Washington Works site in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

ContentsIntroduction | 4

Case studies | 8

Creating economic alternatives to poaching | 6 CEMEX, Dominican Republic

Opening access of natural habitats to communities | 8 ArcelorMittal, Indiana, USA

Supporting energy generation with healthy rivers and wetlands | 10 Ontario Power Generation, Ontario, Canada

Offering skills training for dignified, local jobs | 12 Freeport-McMoRan, Papua, Indonesia

Providing equitable education to the disadvantaged and marginalized | 14 General Motors, Boryeong, South Korea

Improving the sustainability of cities and communities | 16 Bayer, Bahia, Brazil

A call to action for corporate landowners | 18

WILDLIFE HABITAT COUNCIL | THE CONSERVATION CONNECTION | 3

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a call to action for both developing and non-developing countries to secure health and prosperity for people and planet. The SDGs, put forth by the United Nations and adopted by all UN Member States in 2015, succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were focused on developing countries only. The SDGs recognize that all sectors of society – public, private and civil – have a role in advancing prosperity. Unlike the MDGs, the SDGs were developed with private sector input with intent for private sector action. The UN’s Global Compact, the largest corporate sustainability initiative on the planet with over 9,000 corporate members, adopted the SDGs and is today the locus for reporting corporate action toward the goals.

The 17 SDGs are interlinked so that progress on one goal will advance progress on another, making them ideally suited for corporate landowners seeking to leverage natural resources conservation and community efforts for a greater societal benefit. For example, progress on Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, will help advance progress on Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy.

In this white paper we explore how nature-based action on corporate lands support a variety of SDGs, starting with Goal 15: Life on Land, which is focused on actions to protect and restore biodiversity and better manage lands for fuel and food, and Goal 14: Life Below Water, which seeks to restore the health of our oceans by reducing marine pollution and promoting sustainable management of fisheries and their ecosystems. These two SDGs are designed to reverse the negative environmental trends that have been observed for decades in both ocean and terrestrial systems. In theory, conservation action can connect to most of the 17 SDGs. Following a review of 90 Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) corporate members and over 600 WHC-certified conservation programs, we find that in practice the most common links to goals other than Goal 14 and Goal 15 are to Goal 4: Quality Education and Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals.

The connection to Goal 4 is not surprising. Corporate ecological stewardship efforts link easily to education, whether through engaging grade school students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) lessons in a corporate habitat or

Introduction

providing living laboratories for undergraduate and graduate students seeking research opportunities.

With Goal 17, partnerships make most conservation efforts stronger. When local NGOs and other groups can contribute to a corporate conservation project, they bring a deep knowledge of the locality, an understanding of the culture, and a passion for making their communities better.

The power of a better, more sustainable community is at the core of the SDGs. Good health, no poverty, zero hunger and quality education are the fundamental building blocks of a better life. Decent jobs, sound infrastructure and innovative industry contribute to prosperity, while peace and equity ensure that everyone can realize their full potential. Nature is integrated through every aspect of this future community. It provides clean air and water, resources for both food and materials, habitat for biodiversity, and safe and accessible places in which to learn and recreate.

All businesses can contribute to the prosperity of the communities in which they are located, as well as contribute to protecting, restoring or

enhancing nature through ecological stewardship practices on their lands. The SDGs provide the ideal framework from which to connect corporate lands to community improvement, and to report interconnected corporate citizenship actions into CSR initiatives like the Global Reporting Initiative or Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

But caution should be exercised as a new word has entered the lexicon following the widespread adoption of the SDGs by business: “rainbow-washing.” This term is being used by activists and business watchdog groups to highlight the practice of some companies cherry-picking a number of SDGs and using them to report activities that may be required or mandated rather than actions that are additive and beyond compliance.

The Wildlife Habitat Council and its members have long recognized that nature-based action and ecological stewardship on corporate lands can be leveraged to meet a variety of business challenges and opportunities. The many ways in which business can use corporate conservation to contribute to the SDGs underscores the fact that nature is essential for a better world.


Goal 1 is the elimination of poverty in all its manifestations by 2030, including the total elimination of extreme poverty (living on less than 1.25 USD each day), and halving the proportion of people living below the poverty line. Presently, 783 million people around the world live below the international poverty line, with the highest poverty rates often found in small, fragile and conflict-affected nations.1 This goal also targets equal access to economic and natural resources.

Low-income, rural communities tend to be particularly dependent on ecosystems for food and fuel. These communities can therefore benefit from activities that enhance biodiversity and native ecosystems.

Companies seeking to contribute to Goal 1 can use conservation activities as a route to alleviating poverty in the communities where they operate. For example, small coffee bean farms have experienced both increased yields and improved quality as a result of pollinator conservation in a nearby forest.2 Local fishermen have benefitted from aquatic habitat restoration in local waterways.3 These types of activities can also help to address Goal 2: Zero Hunger by improving access to food resources

and Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth by helping conserve habitats that provide a source of income.

The relationship between poverty and conservation is very complex and context-specific. The most meaningful outcomes for both biodiversity and poverty alleviation will actively engage local community members in identifying and conserving natural resources that are critical to their livelihoods.4

CEMEX’s Las Salinas and Laguna Cabral program is working to end poaching of a threatened iguana species in a way that also addresses poverty in the local community.

The Las Salinas and Laguna Cabral conservation program is managed on a 20,119-acre quarry site in southwestern Dominican Republic. CEMEX manages wetland and forest habitats for native species, most notably the threatened rhinoceros iguana, the largest native herbivore on the island of Hispaniola.

The rhinoceros iguana plays an important ecological role for a variety of plant species in the region. The iguana spreads plant seeds by eating fruits. This is especially helpful when females move to new nesting

Creating economic alternatives to poaching


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sites and spread seeds further away from the source plant.

Since 2013, CEMEX has monitored the iguana population and conducted surveys to identify and protect their nests from threats, specifically poaching. The program includes an integrated effort to address the poaching and sale of the iguanas for food, which is driven by poverty and food insecurity in the surrounding communities.

A comprehensive survey was conducted among local iguaneros (community members who capture iguanas for either sale or personal consumption). Among the findings, the team learned that there was a general lack of understanding and appreciation for the species’ ecological role, and more than half of iguaneros would be willing to cease poaching if presented with an economic alternative. Using this knowledge, CEMEX began engaging local adults and children in education and awareness about the species. Community members, including iguaneros, are provided a small monetary incentive for participating in the site’s riparian forest restoration efforts by planting trees. In addition, the tree nursery at Las Salinas and Laguna Cabral maintained for forest restoration also includes edible and commercial species like lemon trees, and

community members can periodically request saplings to plant in their own yards.

In the Dominican Republic, poverty rates have fallen in recent years. Rates are still relatively high, however, with approximately 30% of residents still living in poverty.5 Programs like this one are critical to providing sources of livelihood for neighboring communities.

The Las Salinas and Laguna Cabral program first received WHC Conservation Certification in 2017.


CEMEX educates locals on the important ecological role of the threatened rhinoceros iguana in the Dominican Republic.

Goal 3 seeks to ensure the health and well-being of all people, at every stage of life, and it addresses all major health priorities including communicable, non-communicable and environmental diseases, as well as other health concerns like mental health and reducing health risks.

Natural habitats maintained on corporate lands are well-suited to contributing to Goal 3. The physical and psychological benefits of contact with green spaces are well-documented, resulting in lowered blood pressure, decreased stress, increased feelings of well-being,6 reduced mental fatigue, improved attention and concentration,7,8 and even longer life spans.9 Companies can support Goal 3 by linking conservation to health and well-being in a variety of ways. Utilizing the lands on which they operate, businesses can add nature trails, offer gardening and bird watching opportunities, engage employees in conservation or education activities, and much more.

Corporate conservation actions that contribute to Goal 3 can link to other SDGs. For example, access to green space has been shown to help counteract the health inequalities that are often associated

with poverty,10 an outcome that contributes to Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities. And offering access to outdoor learning environments can contribute to STEM learning and Goal 4: Quality Education.

The conservation program at ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor provides employees and community members access to a wellness trail through the site’s habitats and offers educational opportunities about both cardiovascular health and conservation.

ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor is a steelmaking facility, producing about 5 million tons of steel per year for use in automotive, consumer durable goods and pipeline applications. Located on Lake Michigan in northwest Indiana, 50 miles southeast of Chicago, it includes 120 acres available to wildlife, and 70 acres that are actively managed by the company for habitat enhancement.

The conservation program on the site incorporates management and restoration of habitats such as oak savannah, sand prairie, shallow wetlands and dune barrens. ArcelorMittal partnered with the American Heart Association to construct a wellness trail through

Opening access of natural habitats to communities


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the restored oak savannah habitat. The trail is designed to encourage fitness and a healthy lifestyle among employees and community members, and includes strategically placed signage along the trail that educates on the risk factors of heart disease and stroke. The trail was recognized by the American Heart Association as a Gold Level Fit-Friendly Worksite in 2013.

The program also educates visitors about the natural areas along the trail by incorporating it into outdoor learning labs. ArcelorMittal regularly hosts the Mighty Acorns, a conservation education program for grades 3-5 in the greater Chicago region, for hands-on educational activities. Each year, approximately 200 Mighty Acorns learn about the natural habitat along the site’s trail and how to identify the different plants and animals they encounter. They also learn about invasive species while contributing to site stewardship by helping to pull invasive plants like garlic mustard and Oriental bittersweet that grow in the surrounding oak savannah habitat.

The Burns Harbor wellness trail not only promotes an active, healthy lifestyle, but also supports a safe outdoor learning environment, an important aspect

for primary and secondary school education that is often less available to underserved, low-income communities.

The program at Burns Harbor has been WHC-certified since 2014.


Employees at ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor manage the oak savannah habitat.

Goal 7 aims to ensure that everyone has access to modern energy sources that are sustainable, affordable and reliable. Several of the targets for this goal focus on renewable energy sources, including increasing both production of and access to affordable renewable energy.

Businesses that maintain and protect ecosystems on their land can make a direct impact on the production of hydropower (which relies on a healthy watershed to supply water to the river) and bioenergy (which typically relies on the availability of ample plant matter such as wood).11 Energy suppliers can also incorporate biodiversity considerations into renewable energy infrastructure, such as by establishing native vegetative cover beneath solar panels and wind turbines, using mechanisms to divert birds and bats away from wind turbine blades, and enhancing habitat in unused portions of the property.

Conservation activities that support Goal 7 often interlink with other SDGs. Energy is the largest contributor to climate change, accounting for 60% of total global greenhouse gas emissions.12 Activities that promote renewable energy will

therefore also support Goal 13: Climate Action. Ensuring greater access to affordable, renewable energy as well as energy-efficient housing and transport has the potential to drive greater social inclusion for over 1 billion people.13 Conservation activities that support Goal 7 can therefore indirectly support other goals such Goal 1: No Poverty and Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) operates nine hydroelectric generating stations in eastern Ontario, Canada. One group of these stations, located on the Ottawa and Madawaska River systems, work together to implement the Eastern Operations Hydro conservation program to support or complement effective operation of the stations.

Management of a healthy river and associated wetlands, bays and upland habitats at the station locations helps ensure there are adequate water levels and flows to operate the hydroelectric generators, while also creating benefits for biodiversity and water quality. OPG uses surveys such as the Marsh Monitoring Program and Chats Falls Bat Survey to monitor the diversity of birds, bats, amphibians,


Supporting energy generation with healthy rivers and wetlands

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reptiles, and other wildlife using the habitats, making note of any species of concern observed. These surveys help OPG track changes in biodiversity, make adjustments in management protocol, and gain a better understanding of its role as a steward of the habitat.

The 494-acre Grassy Bay Wetland, a provincially-significant wetland on the site, has been managed for reptiles and amphibians since 2008. OPG studies whether water level manipulation, a procedure needed for operation of the hydroelectric generators, has negative impacts on the amphibians and reptiles using the Grassy Bay Wetland. This information is then used to mitigate the effects of river drawn-down on overwintering amphibians and reptiles. The various stations now coordinate the timing of water drawn-down based on temperature to encourage amphibians and reptiles to seek topography that is less prone to water level changes in order to prevent them from becoming stranded and freezing during the winter.

Through a five-year agreement with Ducks Unlimited Canada beginning in 2016, the 64-acre Chats Falls wetland area and 29-acre adjacent upland habitat

are conserved, and twelve nest boxes for ducks are maintained in the upland area. The Chats Falls wetlands are also used as one of the training sites for the Earthwalkers program, which provides work experience in the natural resources sector for native North American Algonquin youth while teaching them about managing the natural environment.

The integrated approach of this program positively impacts the biodiversity on the site and contributes to plant operations that allow for access to a sustainable, affordable and reliable energy source.

This conservation program has been certified since 2007.


Recovery efforts for the lake sturgeon, also known as the rock sturgeon, is conducted by OPG on the Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada.

Goal 8 seeks to ensure that all people, including young people, women, persons with disabilities, and migrant workers, have opportunities for full, productive employment and decent work, with equal pay for work of equal value, and safe and secure working environments. Economies will require more than just good jobs, however; for economic growth that is truly sustainable, societies need to foster the creation of quality jobs that stimulate the economy while not harming the environment.14

As employers, companies play a vital role in contributing toward this goal, and conservation activities can even further promote this goal by fostering jobs skills that will be vital in a sustainable economy. Companies can offer internships focused on conservation disciplines, and provide access to habitats for youth conservation corps teams for training and conservation activities. STEM education initiatives that use corporate habitat as the integrating context can foster valuable skills that students will find useful in securing decent employment in the future, such as data collection and analysis, collaboration and problem-solving,

while also supporting the targets of Goal 4: Quality Education.

Freeport-McMoRan’s PTFI facility in Indonesia incorporates several conservation and education projects that impart job skills and knowledge that can help local residents to find employment in the fields of sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship.

PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) is a 740,000-acre copper and gold mine in the remote highlands of the Sudirman Mountain Range in Papua province, Indonesia, operating under joint ownership between Freeport-McMoRan and the Indonesian government. The mine straddles several diverse ecosystems that vary with altitude, from mangrove forests at sea level, to lowland tropical rain forest at middle altitudes, to the montane forest and alpine ecosystems at 4,200 feet above sea level. Several research facilities and outdoor classrooms were established in the lowland forest because of its rich biodiversity.

Using these facilities, PTFI engages employees and community members in management of these habitats

Offering skills training for dignified, local jobs


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A black sunbird at the PTFI facility in Papua, Indonesia.

to ensure they continue to host high levels of biodiversity. Initiatives like “One Man, Two Trees” educates employees, their families, and visitors about biodiversity and land use change issues and invites them to plant trees in restoration areas. Employees and local students also participate in restoration of mangrove habitat, with over 200,000 mangrove trees planted in the Akjwa Estuary since 2000.

Through several of its conservation projects, PTFI helps to promote productive, “decent work” for local residents and migrant workers. Each year, student interns from local agricultural high schools work at the on-site greenhouse and agricultural areas, gaining valuable knowledge and job skills in topics such as forestry, habitat restoration, plant propagation, use of mine tailings as productive cropland, soil science, integrated pest and weed management, and natural fertilization. College students also participate in internships related to reclamation, natural succession and coastal impact management. PTFI also trains local teachers to use the standardized environmental curriculum it developed for schools in the Mimika Regency administrative district.

Additionally, PTFI provides conservation education courses for economically vulnerable and unemployed members of the community. Itinerant workers living on subsistence agriculture at the on-site Inamco Camp are taught basic conservation stewardship concepts and receive training in skills such as composting. Similar educational experiences that promote sustainable farming and job skills are provided to local villages.

This integration of conservation and education increases PTFI’s community capital, establishing itself as a steward of conservation and a supporter of its neighbors’ educational and employment well-being.

The program at PTFI was first certified by WHC in 2011.

Goal 10 seeks to reduce inequality for disadvantaged and marginalized populations. These inequalities might be social, economic, or environmental and tend to be based on factors like income, class, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, race/ethnicity, and opportunity, and they continue to persist across the world in even the richest countries and oldest democracies.15

Corporate conservation programs can contribute to Goal 10 by intentionally engaging a diversity of participants, as well as by ensuring that activities are accessible and welcoming to all employees and community members. Companies can specifically invite audiences from disadvantaged and minority groups to events and educational activities, as well as partner with organizations that work with these audiences or that promote diversity in the outdoors. When working with economically-disadvantaged schools or community groups where travel costs may be prohibitive to visiting a corporate habitat, companies may wish to provide subsidized or free transportation. Activities can even be designed to be adaptable for certain audiences that may otherwise have difficulty participating, such as those who are

disabled, neurodivergent, or non-native speakers.

Addressing inequality as part of a corporate conservation program can help contribute to other SDGs as well, like Goal 4: Quality Education and Goal 5: Gender Equality. Women remain underrepresented in STEM careers, especially in engineering and computer sciences.16 Engaging women and young girls in hands-on, nature-based STEM education can help increase their confidence and interest in pursuing STEM disciplines in school and their careers.

Persons with disabilities are the world’s largest minority, and disabled women and girls often face double the level of discrimination.17 Although social protection for disabled individuals has been significantly extended in many places, they are still five times more likely than abled individuals to incur catastrophic health expenditures.18

Providing equitable education to the disadvantaged and marginalized


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General Motors (GM) is working to support disabled students in South Korea at its Boryeong Transmission facility by providing equal opportunities for both abled and disabled students to engage in conservation education.

The GM Boryeong Transmission facility, located in east-central South Korea, produces various propulsion systems and is a core powertrain production facility that supplies GM plants, both in Korea and beyond. The conservation program managed on the site is focused on an almost 1-acre pollinator garden located at the main entrance to the facility. The garden includes over 4,300 plants from 29 native species, with different sections blooming in different seasons to ensure pollinators have food available throughout the growing season. The area also includes a small garden planted with vegetables and fruits that employees harvest periodically.

In addition to benefiting local pollinators, the garden is used as outdoor learning labs for two local schools, aiming to increase students’ environmental ethic and knowledge by enhancing their awareness in wildlife and environmental concerns.

At Ju-San Industrial High School, botany is a required part of junior and senior students’ curriculum. These students learn about topics like plant production and application, creation of ecosystems, and professional planting techniques in class, so activities such as planting native vegetation and monitoring wildlife use of the garden correlates with their learning goals.

The Boryeong Jeong-sim School for disabled students also participates. With assistance from GM employees, these students participate in planting and monitoring the pollinator garden, using the same course as that provided to Ju-San Industrial High School students.

This project enables the students to actively engage with other members of the community and play a role in local conservation efforts. Involving the students in this way is a meaningful step in reducing bias and promoting equal treatment of disabled members of the community.

The Boryeong program has been WHC-certified since 2016.


A planting event for employees and local students at GM Boryeong Transmission in South Korea.

Goal 11 aims to make cities more sustainable, safe, resilient and inclusive by protecting natural heritage, reducing the environmental impact of cities, and improving access to safe, inclusive and accessible green spaces.

Biodiversity initiatives can help companies improve sustainability in their communities and contribute to Goal 11. Planting native trees, for example, contributes in many ways towards this SDG. Trees can improve air quality, water quality and storm-water management. They provide oxygen, reduce erosion and, when planted near buildings, provide cooling effects in hot weather. Trees also provide important habitat for birds and pollinators.

Companies can also use education to encourage community members to implement sustainable practices at home, such as landscaping with native species.

Initiatives that address community sustainability also have the potential to link to other SDGs. Some species and habitat, like trees and deep-rooted grasses, are good at sequestering carbon and can help contribute to Goal 13: Climate Action. Native

landscaping (whether on a corporate site or a private home) can contribute to Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation by reducing the amount of fertilizers and pesticides that run off into water sources.

The Bayer Camaçari Plant is located in the heavily-industrialized city of Camaçari in Bahia, Brazil, where opportunities for nature-based sustainability initiative abound. Bayer is working both on- and off-site to improve sustainability in the region’s communities through reforestation initiatives.

The Camaçari Plant is a production facility for agricultural products. The conservation program implemented at the plant revolves around restoration of the Atlantic Forest, which runs from northern Argentina, through Paraguay and eastern Uruguay up the Atlantic Coast of South America to northeastern Brazil. The Atlantic Forest is widely considered one of the most threatened biomes in the world and a high priority for conservation due to the intense pressures of habitat loss and degradation on the ecosystem’s exceptional levels of biodiversity and endemic species.

To address this critical problem, Bayer initiated

Improving the sustainability of cities and communities


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Projecto Florescer (Project Blossom) to promote reforestation around the Camaçari Industrial Complex, home to Bayer and a number of other companies’ industrial facilities, including Kordsa Brasil and BASF.

As part of Projecto Florescer, more than 25,000 tree seedlings have been planted by employees and community volunteers since the first planting event in 2008. These activities have expanded an existing remnant of native forest into 20 acres of restored Atlantic Forest habitat that connects two larger tracts of the habitat. An on-site greenhouse nursery is used to grow tree seedlings for the ongoing reforestation efforts, and the gardening team receives annual trainings to help them improve their seedling production and nursery management skills. Bayer also educates community members about the Atlantic Forest ecosystem through events like employee family days, open houses and school tours, when visitors can learn about Projecto Florescer and plant tree seedlings in the restored forest.

These reforestation efforts also extend further off-site into the state of Bahia. Bayer formalized a partnership with Instituto Corredor Ecológico Costa dos Coqueiros

(Coconut Coast Ecological Corridor Institute), which is dedicated to promoting reforestation along the northern coast of Bahia. Some of the seedlings grown at the Camaçari Plant will be used to reforest eroding river and stream banks in neighboring communities to create a greenbelt being restored by Bayer and other landowners in the region.

By increasing tree cover and restoring riparian habitat in Camaçari and other cities in Bahia, Bayer is helping to enhance the safety and sustainability of these communities, making tangible contributions to climate, biodiversity and people.

The program at Bayer Camaçari Plant has been certified by WHC since 2010.


Bayer educates students on the Atlantic Forest ecosystem at Bayer Camaçari in Bahia, Brazil.

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A call to action for corporate landowners

Corporate, site-based biodiversity and education activities have the potential to support all of the 17

SDGs. Here, we illustrate some of the on-the-ground actions corporate landowners can engage in, how they connect to the Goals, and the interlinkages

between them.

SUPPORTSINTERLINKED

Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere

2, 8, 14, 15, 17

Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

1, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17

Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

4, 10, 15, 17

Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

1, 4, 10, 15, 17

Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries

4, 5, 15,17

Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

6, 13, 15, 17

Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improvednutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

1, 14, 15, 17

Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

5, 10, 15, 17

Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

4, 10, 15, 17

Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

9, 11, 15, 17Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

6, 11, 13, 15, 17

Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

6, 7, 11, 15, 17

Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

All

Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

6, 11, 15, 17

Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

4, 5, 10, 15, 17

Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

All

© WILDLIFE HABITAT COUNCIL 2019

Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

6, 13, 15, 17

4, 10, 15, 17

Additional resources and information

• Visit the UN Sustainable Development Goals website at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/ for in-depth information and research about the SDGs.

• Explore the UN Global Compact website at www.unglobalcompact.org to learn how businesses are committing to sustainability and taking a shared responsibility for achieving a better world.

• Browse the WHC Index at www.wildlifehc.org/whc-index, a detailed catalog of WHC Conservation Certification programs around the world.

• Learn about WHC Conservation Certification, a rigorous, third-party certification standard. Through the WHC Habitat, Species and Education and Awareness themes, WHC Conservation Certification recognizes and incentivizes voluntary conservation activities that align with the goals of broader conservation initiatives like the SDGs and the Global Compact.


A sunflower in a pollinator meadow at the Chemours Newport

Site in Newport, Delaware.

WHC can help support conservation education activities from the design and planning, to the implementation and management of a program. We do so through a framework that connects business drivers, stakeholder and community relations, and ROI to positive environmental and conservation outcomes. For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

wildlifehc.org

© WILDLIFE HABITAT COUNCIL 2019

1 United Nations. 2019. About the Sustainable Development Goals. New York, New York. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals.2 Ricketts, T.H., G.C. Daily, and C.D. Michener. 2004. Economic value of tropical forest to coffee production. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) 101(34): 12579-12582.3 Billé, R., R. Lapeyre, and R. Pirard. 2012. Biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation: A way out of the deadlock? Surveys and Perspectives Integrating Environment and Society 5(1): 1-15.4 Billé et al. 2012.5 The World Bank. 2019. Dominican Republic. World Bank Open Data. Washington, D.C. https://data.worldbank.org/country/dominican-republic.6 Tsunetsugu, Y., B. Park, H. Ishii, H. Hirano, T. Kagawa, and Y. Miyazaki. 2007. Physiological effects of shinrin-yoku (taking in the atmosphere of the forest) in an old-growth broadleaf forest in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. Journal of Physiological Anthropology 26: 135-142.7 Taylor, A.F., and F.E. Kuo. 2008. Children with attention deficits concentrate better after walk in the park. Journal of Attention Disorders Online, doi:10.1177/1087054708323000. 8 Taylor, A.F., F.E. Kuo, and W.C. Sullivan. 2001. Coping with ADD: The surprising connection to green play settings. Environment and Behavior 33(1): 54-77.

9 Takano, T., K. Nakamura, and M. Watanabe. 2002. Urban residential environments and senior citizens’ longevity in megacity areas: The importance of walkable green spaces. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 56: 913-918.10 Mitchell, R., and F. Popham. 2008. Effect of exposure to natural environment on health inequalities: An observational population study. The Lancet 372(9650): 1655- 1660.11 United Nations. Undated. Affordable and clean energy: Why it matters. New York, New York. Available from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/ uploads/2018/09/Goal-7.pdf.12 United Nations 2019.13 Poschen, P. 2017. Decent work, green jobs and the sustainable economy: Solutions for climate change and sustainable development. Greenleaf Publishing, Austin, Texas.14 United Nations 2019.15 United Nations 2019.16 National Girls Collaborative Project. 2018. The state of girls and women in STEM. Seattle, Washington. Available from https://ngcproject.org/sites/default/files/ ngcp_the_state_of_girls_and_women_in_stem_2018a_1.pdf.17 United Nations. Undated. Equality: Why it matters. New York, New York. https://www. un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Goal-10.pdf.18 United Nations 2019.

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