IUCN-Holcim Panel visits Romania

Members of the Biodiversity Advisory Panel visited Romania in late June to gain country-based insights into the monitoring system being developed for Holcim. The visits took place at limestone and aggregate quarries in Eastern Romania near the cities of Aleşd and Turda. During the visit, the panel members and the IUCN and Holcim relationship managers had the opportunity to exchange experiences with local Holcim staff and a local biodiversity expert working with Holcim to implement the Biodiversity Management System. During the visits and discussions, Panel members also provided some advice to Holcim about setting biodiversity targets for rehabilitation and for the development of biodiversity action plans.

“Visiting Holcim sites and interacting with staff members responsible for implementing the BMS is an important component of the Panel’s work,” says Christoph Imboden, Chair of the Biodiversity Advisory Panel. “These visits help us understand some of the challenges faced at the country-level so that we can tailor our recommendations accordingly. Through these visits, we are also able to build into our system good practices carried out by country operations”.

The Panel will use this visit to introduce some of the concepts discussed and tested in the visit to refine their thinking for the global monitoring and indicator system being developed.

IUCN and Holcim have been working together since 2007 to strengthen biodiversity management within Holcim’s operations and to contribute to sector-wide improvements in the cement and related sectors. In 2011, a new agreement was signed which focuses on implementing a Biodiversity Management System and developing a monitoring protocol for the company.

For more information on the IUCN-Holcim Relationship see: https://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/business/bbp_work/bbp_holcim/