Could the bike industry’s role in biodiversity conservation be greater?

The outdoors is considered a bike rider’s playground, but it’s also home to incredible biodiversity that must be protected and preserved. EOCA invites the bike industry to help conserve extraordinary landscapes and wildlife around the world.

Following the conversations in China at COP 15 about the urgent need to address the loss of biodiversity, and the conversations in Glasgow about the need to tackle the climate crisis, there is no better time to reassess a company’s CSR strategy and to ensure that it is the very best it can be. We all can and must play our part.

To be holistic, this is indeed an enormous task. Together with looking at carbon emissions in your whole supply chain and sourcing materials ethically and sustainably, there is transport, waste and water use to think about. And what about where your products are used by your customers? Who is looking after the extraordinary habitats and landscapes that your customers love to explore on their bikes around the world? Who is protecting threatened biodiversity in these special places, and ensuring that these ecosystems remain healthy so that they can play their part in drawing down and storing carbon? Well, the good news is that the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) is doing just that.

Established in 2006, EOCA is a not-for-profit membership organisation which has over 150 members, all companies that make and sell products that are used in the great outdoors. To date, these members have put over €4 million into conservation projects in 59 different countries around the world.

So, how does EOCA work?

EOCA raises funds through a membership fees its members pay, with the amount paid dependent on turnover. It also raises funds from fundraising activities with its members. Twice a year, EOCA then invites not-for-profit organisations to apply for funding of up to €30,000 for conservation projects. Well established criteria for the types of projects it will fund, together with support from a panel of scientific advisers from different areas of conservation all ensure that the projects selected for funding are the best ones from a conservation point of view. The projects must protect, enhance or restore a threatened habitat or landscape, work with the local community, leave a legacy, tackle climate change, and provide an educational element.

All projects must also have a link to outdoor enthusiasts to ensure they are relevant to members. A shortlist of the very best of the applications is drawn up using the criteria and then these projects are put into a vote. There is a vote for members to select some of projects to be funded. There is also a public vote when members of the public and outdoor enthusiasts are asked to have their say. This vote attracts huge attention, registering nearly 140,000 votes during 2021 and having a string of high-profile people getting involved over the years.

The projects EOCA has funded in the past include establishing biking routes to enhance protection of landscapes through ecotourism in Romania and South Africa; cleaning plastic pollution from environments with paddle boarders, mountain bikers, hikers, surfers and skiers; restoring, replanting and protecting forests in Scotland, Sweden, France, Indonesia, Spain and Nepal; and conserving the habitats of bears in Italy and Spain, red squirrels in the UK, orangutans in Borneo and elephants in Thailand. To name but a few. All very different, but all vitally important.

All companies that manufacture, supply, distribute, retail, promote or use products that are used and enjoyed in the great outdoors are encouraged to join EOCA. EOCA offers a bespoke environmental giving programme, a key part in a company’s CSR strategy, with opportunities to get as involved at various levels. The association is unique in enabling a sector to work together to give back to nature. Nature that we all enjoy and on which we are all dependent.

By working together, we can achieve so much more than by working alone.

To find out more about EOCA or to join, please visit www.eocaconservation.org, or email at [email protected].

Photo: @Ian Lean