2020 BIODIVERSITY AWARD
The Biodiversity Award honours OSSGA members for their contribution to sustaining biodiversity through species protection, habitat improvement and sustainable land use activities. They are also recognized for conserving biodiversity in a way that goes well beyond regulatory standard practices and typical activities undertaken by the industry. Ontario’s Biodiversity Strategy, 2011 was central to the development of the award criteria. Each eligible project must demonstrate support for one or more of the following strategic directions: engaging people, reducing threats, enhancing resilience, and improving knowledge.
Lafarge Canada Inc.- A Member of LafargeHolcim
Township of Uxbridge
Protecting, Restoring and enhancing
Lafarge Canada Inc. is committed to protecting, restoring and enhancing biodiversity at every one of its sites across the world. Its strategy closer to home includes developing Biodiversity Management Plans (BMPs) to help sites support the four strategic directions of Ontario’s Biodiversity Strategy: engaging people, reducing threats, enhancing resilience and improving knowledge. Each BMP involves assessing a site’s biodiversity history and potential, after which a customized action plan is created to guide the site in achieving Net Positive Impact (NPI) on all local plant and animal species.
To date, Lafarge has developed 19 BMPs for its Ontario sites, including one for its Uxbridge Regan Pit. The Uxbridge Pit team has engaged its community and improved knowledge through ongoing education and industry tours, local awareness campaigns, and tree planting initiatives with various local schools and organizations. Moreover, the site’s operations team works with local groups such as Uxbridge Naturally and North Durham Nature to hold talks on biodiversity and gain insights to guide its biodiversity strategy
Resiliency
The Uxbridge Regan Pit has also taken key steps to reduce biodiversity threats and enhance resiliency. It has rehabilitated portions of its site to create a wildlife corridor between the north and south forested areas around the pit, creating terrestrial habitats for various animals (e.g., foxes, snakes, rabbits, etc.), building 50 bird boxes for cavity-nesting birds and planting over 55,000 trees.
LOOKING FORWARD
Looking forward, Lafarge aims to have one-third of its turnover come from products, services and solutions with enhanced sustainability performance by 2030. It is thanks to biodiversity leaders like Uxbridge Regan Pit that the company is well on its way to meeting this goal.