A refresher course on biodiversity
- Biodiversity is a bewilderingly broad concept, covering literally all life on Earth
- It is the most complex and vital feature of our planet, as it is this myriad of **relationships between organisms that make life possible
** - There are several levels of biodiversity, including:
- Genes
- Individual species
- Communities of living things
- Entire ecosystems
- Healthy ecosystems are comprised of this range of animals, plants, microorganisms, and more. It’s these ecosystems that provide the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the medicine we rely on. For example, without plants, we wouldn’t have any oxygen to breathe. Without bees to pollinate flowers, we wouldn’t have any fruit.
The most diverse ecosystems
Why biodiversity should be important to companies
What can companies do to help biodiversity?
Introduce a new sustainability policy
Start setting targets and building accountability
Have your C-suite walk the talk
Get employees involved
What we’re doing at TravelPerk to help protect biodiversity
Spotlight: Rimba Raya Biodiversity Project
One of the primary projects we work with is the Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve Initiative - a for-profit forest carbon initiative in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. A fundamental objective of this project is to protect an entire peat dome against planned conversion to oil palm plantations.Rimba Raya is located in the Seruyan District of Indonesia, a territory covering approximately 16.5 million hectares of land - almost 10% of which is peatland. This type of physical geography is most often exploited for oil palm and rubber production, which is precisely what the Rimba Raya Biodiversity Project is fighting against.Oil palm plantations in the district have been expanding rapidly since 2000, with the district government issuing 598,815 hectares of land for this purpose from 2008 to 2014 alone. Deforestation and plans to convert peatland into oil palm plantations have represented the greatest threats to this forest region in the last two decades.
The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve Initiative works specifically with businesses and government entities to tackle this issue. Some of the many positive initiatives that resulted from such partnerships include the use of the forest for illegal timber removals, prohibiting fishing using unsustainable practices, and preventing changing land uses, among other things.The organization has also committed to implementing social programs to improve general income and well-being. That includes things like developing agroforestry systems, introducing a clear water program, and improving child education, to name a few.
Spotlight: Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary
The Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area, covering over 300,000 hectares of land in eastern Cambodia. It is home to more than 100 species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), 75 threatened species, and 46 species listed as Endangered or Rare under Cambodian law. The region is also the ancestral home of the Bunong ethnic group whose culture, community, and identity is founded in this forest. This is a project that we, at TravelPerk, are proud to support.Cambodia has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, which in turn is one of the major causes of carbon dioxide emissions. The Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary holds more than 75 million tonnes of CO2e in the fight against carbon emissions and global warming. Some of the major challenges facing this sanctuary are large-scale deforestation, increasing demand for agricultural land (representing 30% of employment in the region), illegal logging, and animal poaching.The team behind the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary is employing a number of incredible initiatives to combat these challenges. From directly involving local communities to working with law enforcement for land protection, both a top-down and bottom-up approach are being implemented to enact solutions to these problems.Direct wildlife protection is another key area of focus for the team, who have helped community members install predator-exclusion devices and protect Cambodia’s endangered national bird, the giant ibis. Through regular monitoring and evaluation, the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary is able to track the success of these interventions and ensure the positive impact of their actions and those of their investors and donors.