Andrew waxes poetic about our work to leverage change in the marketplace to protect Cole’s favorite place…
A few weeks ago I was down in Wilmington, North Carolina, the heart of Dogwood Alliance’s Coastal Forest focal area to present at the Cape Fear Arch Conservation Collaboration’s quarterly meeting. The Arch part of that name refers to a special geologic feature stretching from Cape Lookout, NC to Cape Romain, SC containing globally significant animal and plant communities. This area is also home to several large pulp and paper mills that are having a destructive impact on forests of the region. The rest of that name refers to a partnership of organizations and individuals interested in protecting this region while balancing the needs of man and nature. Its mission is to develop and implement a community conservation vision to build awareness, protection and stewardship of the region’s important natural resources and it is an emerging force in conservation in the region.
The title of my presentation was “Harnessing Market Forces for Forest Conservation in the Southeast” and my was to explain how our work pressuring the large corporate customers of the paper mills in the region to adopt environmentally responsible paper practices leads to pressure on the paper producers themselves to be better stewards of the land and ultimately to changes in forestry practices on the ground. Our campaigns get big companies invested in environmental paper practices and forest conservation issues as the effect the Cape Fear region. The corporations with their buying power and their capital become new stakeholders at the table working towards the protection of these forests.
My message to them was that our campaign work illustrates that lots of people beyond the Cape Fear region care about these amazing forests. Thanks again for your interest and support of our work.
