May 27, 2022 EOCA: Conservation Steady and Growing
The European Outdoor Conservation Association reports sustained and growing interest in conservation following the pandemic and presents is current focus, the Landscape Legacy Project.
The warning signs that we need to protect and regenerate ecosystems are everywhere – one need look no further than record global temperatures or risk of viruses leaping from wild animals to humans. Healthy ecosystems, on the other hand, can mitigate climate change by absorbing and storing carbon as well as hinder the spread of disease.
This is where European Outdoor Conservation Association’s (EOCA) work to protect biodiversity and habitat is more vital than ever. As Tanya Bascombe, General Manager at EOCA, explains:
“With EOCA’s current focus, Wild for Nature: EOCA’s Landscape Legacy Project, the projects the association supports will conserve, protect, enhance, restore, and reconnect habitats within landscapes that are particularly important for the biodiversity that lives there and also for tackling the climate crisis.”
The pandemic was a challenge for all, and it was not a given that a conservation organization dependent on external funding would make it through a global recession. But EOCA’s members dedication would prove otherwise.
“I was encouraged to see that not only did members continue to support EOCA throughout the pandemic, but they enthusiastically came up with creative new ways to raise even more funds for the association,” recalls Tanya Bascombe.
With over five hundred applications for funding during last year, Tanya Bascombe observes that the need for funding for vital conservation work is growing. Nearly 140,000 votes in two public voting rounds furthermore demonstrates strong public engagement. Thanks to the support of its members, last year EOCA committed €400,000 to thirteen projects in eleven countries.
“Commitment through both good times and hard times,” shares Tanya Bascombe, “ensures that EOCA can fund a broad range of conservation projects in a variety of wild landscapes around the world as part of the outdoor industry’s role in addressing the loss of biodiversity and tackling climate change.”
