May 22, 2014, World Biodiversity Day

For World Biodiversity Day on May 22, Veolia, the global benchmark in optimized resource management, is renewing its commitment to preserving and restoring biodiversity. Overuse and pollution of a natural environment reduces the ecosystem's ability to produce and regenerate resources (e.g. raw materials and energy) that human beings need to survive. Veolia contributes each and every day to the protection and restoration of the natural environment hence to resourcing the world.

 Veolia did well in a recent benchmarking study by B&L Evolution, a consulting firm offering support and consulting services in CSR activities.

Veolia works with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to define its strategy and forward planning of a scientific nature. It also collaborates with many local partners on its markets. In France, Veolia set up a very promising partnership with a local conservatory (Botanique National du Bassin Parisien) involving a project to restore landfill sites. Outside France, Veolia Germany has been working closely since 2011 with the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU Bundesverband), one of Germany's most prominent environmental associations, and has joined the "Biodiversity in Good Company" Initiative.
 

May 22, 2014 - Celebrating island and coastal marine environments: 
This year, World Biodiversity Day will focus on island and coastal marine environments. Due to our business activities and locations, we have a direct impact in terms of the maintenance of ecosystems, especially aquatic ones (e.g. watercourses and marine environments). 

Close-up of an aquatic environments initiative with several components:

1.  Repopulate streams - Eastern Europe 

Veolia has taken part in various projects of this type in Eastern Europe. Partnering with researchers from the Danube Delta National Institute has made it possible to reintroduce 150 sturgeon in the Danube delta in 2011. At the same time, in collaboration with the Freshwater Giants Foundation, Veolia has supported a five-year project to get the Salmonidae to return to the streams of the Czech Republic. The initial results were very encouraging and the plan is to carry out similar actions in Slovakia and Hungary.

 2. Showcase coastal wetlands 
For three years, the nature conservancy for French coastal and shoreline areas (Conservatoire du Littoral, Rivages de France) and Veolia pooled their expertise in a guide published in November 2013. Mission: highlight coastal wetlands, their functions and the services that they render to our society. These wetlands are intermediate spaces where land meets sea, helping to regulate the water cycle. They play a key role in tempering the effects of climate change (e.g. flooding, high water phenomena and coastal erosion).

 3.Support Mission Tara in the Mediterranean Sea
Through the Veolia Foundation, Veolia has been supporting the scientific task force "Tara" (named for its schooner). The objective is to study how oceans behave in the face of ecological crisis as well as raise awareness among people. From May to November 2014, Tara is sailing the Mediterranean Sea to study the impact of micro-plastic waste on the marine ecosystem.

 Link to the Foundation page

4. Discovery of a new fish (Melanotaenia Veoliae) off West Papua (island of New Guinea)
In 2010, Veolia supported an expedition of researchers from the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) in Montpellier, France. Their destination was the karst of Lengguru, located in Indonesia in West Papua (New Guinea). They encountered biodiversity that was astonishing and completely unknown to biologists. A new species of cave fish was discovered during the expedition. It was christened Melanotaenia Veoliae to thank Veolia for its support. A new expedition has been launched this year.