Nikwax celebrates 10 years as an EOCA Sustaining Member

Nikwax has worked closely with the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) since its foundation in 2006 and becoming a Sustaining Member ten years ago was, and still is, proof of our unwavering commitment to environmental conservation. We are passionate about supporting the growth of EOCA and enabling it to increase the number of global projects it can support.

Since 2015, a select group of forward-thinking companies have helped finance the core costs of EOCA, on behalf of the European outdoor leisure sector, benefitting conservation.  This year, EOCA is delighted to announce that not only are there now eight Sustaining Members of EOCA, but four of them, including Nikwax, are supporting EOCA for the tenth year in a row! Each of these four companies have donated an additional €100,000 to the Association since the programme started.

Nikwax and its fellow founding Sustaining Members – KEEN, Pertex and the European Outdoor Group (which founded EOCA in 2006) – have each donated €10,000 a year, over and above EOCA’s annual membership fee, which equates to an extra €400,000 over 10 years. This generous funding has allowed EOCA to continue its vital work, supporting hands-on conservation projects that protect and restore nature worldwide.

© Preserve Muriqui

The twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss must be tackled together. By putting money into protecting and restoring vital ecosystems, EOCA is doing just that. Thanks to our Sustaining Members, we can put so much of our membership and fundraising income directly into on-the-ground conservation projects. Without these companies, EOCA would not have been as effective as it is or achieved nearly so much.  To have had the support of four companies in this way for a decade, now, is an incredible testament to them and their priorities, investing in our collective future.  Tanya Bascombe, Joint General Manager of EOCA.

© Alex Westover / Ecosystem Impact Foundation

Sustaining Members Declaration:

We hereby agree to voluntarily provide at least €10,000 annually, in addition to membership fees, to EOCA. This funding will be used to help finance the operating costs of the Association, to ensure the continuation of EOCA and to enable the entire outdoor sector to work together to support nature conservation that addresses the loss of biodiversity, the climate crisis, and the great outdoors.

We further declare that:

• Our organisation, the outdoor industry, and our wellbeing depend on healthy environments and wild spaces, and we take our collective responsibility to look after them extremely seriously.
• Challenges to our fragile environment are increasing. The general public is more and more aware of this. There is a climate crisis and an intrinsically linked crisis of biodiversity loss.
• Our industry is substantial and we believe it can make a major contribution to protect and care for these wild places and their fauna and flora.
• The European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) provides a collective mechanism to enable the whole of the outdoor industry to care for the environment. The Association has been fulfilling this role on behalf of the industry since 2006.
• Meaningful conservation costs time, money and dedication. We believe this is a worthwhile investment, over and above our membership fee, for the good of the entire industry. We hereby call on all businesses within our industry to join or increase their support of EOCA, to ensure the future of valuable environments on which our businesses depend.

The other Sustaining Members of EOCA are The North Face, Stanley, Osprey and Cumulus, each of which have also supported EOCA in this way for several years. The outdoor industry depends upon the health of our planet for its very existence, and we all feel the urgency to do everything we can to help preserve it.

eocaconservation.org

© Preserve Muriqui

Header image: © Dr Michael Kock