Wood opinion: Earth Day 2019 - Protect our species
ABERDEEN -- Earth Day is celebrated by more than a billion people every year. It is a day of action that aims to change human behavior and provoke policy changes worldwide.
Nature’s gifts to our planet are the millions of species that we know and love, and many more that remain to be discovered. Human beings have upset the balance of nature and, as a result, the world is facing the greatest rate of extinction since the dinosaurs more than 60 million years ago. But unlike the fate of the dinosaurs, the rapid extinction of species in our world today is the result of human activity.
The unprecedented global destruction and rapid reduction of plant and wildlife populations are directly linked to causes driven by human activity: climate change, deforestation, habitat loss, trafficking and poaching, unsustainable agriculture, pollution and pesticides. The impacts are far reaching.
All living things have an intrinsic value, and each plays a unique role in the complex web of life. The good news is that the rate of extinctions can still be slowed, and many of our declining, threatened and endangered species can still recover if we work together and play our part - no matter how small. We must work together to protect endangered and threatened species. In 2010 there were as few as 3,200 tigers in the wild, an all time low. By 2015 surveys showed there were nearly 3,900. Although sadly still a small number, it proves that conservation efforts are making an impact. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have a target to double tiger numbers by 2022.
Wood is focusing its Earth Day Campaign around species which affect us all globally: bees, fish, trees and birds.
We all share the same planet, it’s therefore in our collective interests to take care of the environment around us. Our environment strategy focuses on managing environmental risks, minimizing environmental impact and raising awareness.
We hold environmental standards to ensure our operations do not impact negatively on species and the environment in which they live. These standards ensure all our operations are undertaken in a consistent manner and define the minimum practices and requirements that must be applied to ensure that any impacts to the environment are eliminated or minimized as far as is practicable.
We strive to build sustainable practice into the challenges we face in our daily business, not only to minimize our impact but to tackle wider global climate change concerns and contribute to global sustainability goals.
