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Urban wildlife conservation is a growing branch of conservation ecology with good reason. Due to increase in human encroachment on forest lands, more and more people are encroaching on natural habitat. In addition, many lakes and rivers near cities are severely polluted and in desperate need of restoration. It is important to protect these areas not only to improve their beauty and the health of residents, but also to protect biodiversity.
Walmart has recently launched a campaign called Acres for America to protect, conserve and restore fragile urban ecosystems in Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.
Acres for America is a CSR program developed by the company in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF). It is a 10 year, $35 million commitment to purchase and preserve one acre of wildlife habitat in the United States for every acre of land developed by Walmart. The program has helped conserve more than 630,000 acres in its first five years. They have donated $500,000 and it is the first time the program has helped reestablish critical wildlife habitats in urban areas.
“We are excited to have an opportunity to help revitalize priority wildlife habitats in urban areas and bring the Acres for America program to life for our associates and customers,” said Jennifer May-Brust, Walmart vice president of realty. “Walmart is serving more and more urban customers, and this is a natural extension of what we’ve been doing in rural and suburban communities for years.”
Not only is this ambitious CSR, it is definitely addressing the need of the hour by bringing conservation closer to home and into cities where people can see the obvious benefits of a healthy ecosystem.
Akhila is the Founding Director of GreenDen Consultancy which is dedicated to offering business analysis, reporting and marketing solutions powered by sustainability and social responsibility. Based in the US, Europe, and India, the GreenDen's consultants share the best practices and innovation from around the globe to achieve real results. She has previously written about CSR and ethical consumption for Justmeans and hopes to put a fresh spin on things for this column. As an IEMA certified CSR practitioner, she hopes to highlight a new way of doing business. She believes that consumers have the immense power to change 'business as usual' through their choices. She is a Graduate in Molecular Biology from the University of Glasgow, UK and in Environmental Management and Law. In her free-time she is a voracious reader and enjoys photography, yoga, travelling and the great outdoors. She can be contacted via Twitter @aksvi and also http://www.thegreenden.net