IKEA AND WWF-INDONESIA RENEW PARTNERSHIP TO ACCELERATE ACTION TO INCREASE BIODIVERSITY
For nearly 20 years WWF and Inter IKEA Group have partnered to drive positive environmental impact across industries, and on May 12, 2021, the partnership was announced to be extended through 2025. The partnership reaffirms the commitment to protect, manage and restore key landscapes, and ensure the sustainability of nature- and climate-positive value chains without compromising the rights and needs of people.
2021 is a pivotal year, where decisions on the global biodiversity framework will be taken at the upcoming UN Biodiversity conference (CBD COP 15). The rate of biodiversity loss is up to a point unprecedented in human history. According to WWF's Living Planet 2020 report, between 1970-2016 there has been an average 68% decline in the population sizes of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish. Meanwhile, half of Global Domestic Product (GDP) is moderately or highly dependent on natural resources, with nature providing at least 125 trillion dollars worth of resources every year.
"We are entering a decisive decade. 2030 is the year we must follow the path of decarbonization and restore lost biodiversity to create a safe and healthy future for people and the planet. The next ten years can and must put us on the right course towards a just clean economy and positive nature. We are proud to continue our partnership with IKEA, working together to achieve greater impact on the ground, help mainstream sustainable practices, and positively influence stakeholders, businesses and decision-makers", said Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International.
"WWF believes that working with the private sector is a key mechanism that can help contribute significantly to sustainable development, and by working with companies like IKEA we can address the needs of the entire industry to be more sustainable. WWF is committed to working with IKEA to continue to show leadership and transparency in addressing the many challenges faced in corporate sustainability whenever they occur," Marco continued.
Meanwhile Lena Pripp Kovac, Chief Sustainability Officer Inter IKEA Group, said, "There is an urgent need to actively protect biodiversity. Stopping deforestation and conversion of natural habitats, as well as restoring damaged landscapes is critical to addressing biodiversity loss and climate change. Through WWF and IKEA's partnership efforts, we have the goal of influencing and inspiring more sustainable business practices, and to deliver resource conservation and management where it was not previously possible."
Since 2002, WWF and IKEA have worked together to protect and improve forest management and combat illegal logging, as well as reduce water and pesticide use, and improve livelihoods in the cotton farming sector. The partnership is also involved in freshwater projects, to find solutions for a more sustainable textile industry. The partnership works in 17 countries around the world.
Some of the things that have been achieved through this partnership include:
- Strengthening forest policy, improving forest management practices and increasing Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified forests by 36 million hectares, to drive market transformation towards responsibly sourced timber in Europe and Asia.
- Completed the mapping of almost all known natural and old-growth forests in the Carpathian region in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine, and also in Russia, where procedures to ensure the protection of old-growth forests have now been implemented.
- Empowering 10,000 women in Pakistan through training and capacity building on alternative income generating activities such as micro-nursery construction and kitchen gardening techniques, with environmental benefits, which include conservation of natural resources.
Over the next five years, the WWF and IKEA partnership will through advocacy and sustainable field implementation, collaborate to protect, manage and restore key landscapes, increase biodiversity and enable climate-positive production chains, in a way that respects the rights and needs of communities. Some of the key focus areas for the renewed partnership are:
- To test, implement and promote landscape approaches to enhance local biodiversity in Russian forests. Special focus will be given to FSC-certified commercial forest areas and forests set aside for conservation purposes.
- To sustain key landscapes and improve commodity value chains in response to climate change. The project will contribute at least 20,000 hectares of sustainably and equitably managed FSC certified forests for the benefit of local communities.
- Promoting Water Management.
- Promoting Water Management beyond cotton plantations by scaling up our work on water basin repair and restoration projects in Turkey, Pakistan and India through a series of technology-driven interventions and multi-stakeholder initiatives.
- Reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions through the adoption of carbon smart agriculture practices. This will include supporting and enabling farming communities to adopt climate-smart crop production and livestock management by training and building capacity. It will also include promoting research and development in this area.
- Establishing a global definition of carbon-smart agriculture.
- Establish a global definition of climate positive with the aim to secure a credible framework for ambitious global climate action. This process will be led by WWF, with key input from IKEA and other companies, and a portion of the work will be presented at COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021.
About the IKEA and WWF partnership
WWF and IKEA are working together to safeguard and manage natural resources and transform business for the benefit of people and planet. Through engagements and projects in the forest, cotton, freshwater and climate sectors, the partnership works to protect and enhance biodiversity by supporting the transition towards more ecologically sustainable business practices. Read more here.