EOCA’s Two Year Focus.
EOCA funds a broad range of conservation projects across Europe and beyond. Every two years, the organisation has a new focus which enables the organisation to put additional funding and communication support into a globally urgent conservation issue. The focus for 2021 and 2022 is called
Wild for Nature; EOCA’s Landscape Legacy Project.
Saving biodiversity and supporting people in a warming world.
Imagine standing at a viewpoint, looking out at the environment around you. You can see the highest mountains, the valleys between them, the streams that become a meandering river leading to a lake, to an estuary and then out to the ocean. Within this landscape are a wide variety of different ecosystems, vital for biodiversity, mitigating against climate change, and for communities. These include alpine meadows, forests, peatlands, freshwater habitats, salt marshes, mangroves and seagrass meadows, to name but a few.
As outdoor enthusiasts, we 'go wild' (get excited) for nature .... and also want to protect wild habitats for nature, leaving a legacy of a stronger, healthier, properly functioning environment for the generations to come.
Through this focus, EOCA will ensure that the outdoor industry focuses its funding on addressing the double threat of biodiversity loss and climate change. By conserving, restoring and protecting healthy habitats, these projects will help protect against loss of species and also ensure that the habitats are able to draw down and store carbon and so help to address the climate emergency.
The Wild for Nature: EOCA’s Landscape Legacy Project –is not only timely and extremely relevant, it also enables the European outdoor industry to meet its obligations to nature and the climate.
The start of the UN Biodiversity Conference – COP15 - being held 11-24 October 2021 in China, will convene governments from around the world in order to agree a new set of goals to address the deterioration of nature and biodiversity. During 1-12 November, the UN Climate Change Conference – COP 26 – is being held in Glasgow, UK, to bring together world leaders to commit to urgent global climate action.
EOCA and its members from the European outdoor industry must play their part in addressing these 2 threats to the planet and are, in fact, in a strong position to do so.
Watch the video to find out more HERE.
