Ikea and WWF renew partnership till 2025 to enhance biodiversity

Since 2002, WWF and Ikea have worked together to protect and improve management of forests and fight illegal logging, as well as to reduce water and pesticide use and improve livelihoods in cotton farming. The partnership is also engaged in freshwater projects to find solutions for a more sustainable textile industry. The partnership now works in 17 countries all over the world, they said in a joint press release.

The 20-year partnership has resulted in strengthening of the forest policy; mapping of nearly all known virgin and old-growth forests in the Carpathian regions of Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine and Russia; and empowering 10,000 women in Pakistan through training and capacity building on alternate income generation activities, the release said.

“WWF believes that working with the private sector is a key mechanism that can help contribute significantly to sustainable development and that by working with companies like Ikea we can address the need for the entire industry to be more sustainable. WWF is committed to work with Ikea to continue showing leadership and transparency and to address the inevitable challenges which come with corporate sustainability whenever they occur,” said Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International.

Lena Pripp Kovac, chief sustainability officer at Inter Ikea Group, says: “There is an urgent need to actively protect biodiversity. Halting deforestation and the conversion of natural habitats, as well as restoring degraded landscapes is critical to addressing biodiversity loss and climate change. Through the combined efforts of WWF and Ikea, we aim to influence and inspire more sustainable business practices, and to deliver conservation and resource stewardship that would not otherwise be possible.”

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)