Pirelli, BMW Group and BirdLife International have teamed up to protect Sumatra’s forest ecosystems through conservation, community engagement & empowerment for the sustainable production of rubber.
Pirelli and BMW Group, in collaboration with BirdLife International, have kicked off a partnership and project linked to the production of natural rubber. The project aims to safeguard Indonesia’s Hutan Harapan ecosystem, where communities and species are at risk of extinction.
about Hutan Harapan.
Hutan Harapan is Sumatra’s remaining lowland tropical forest. Representing 20% of the biodiversity on the island of Sumatra, it’s home to approximately 1,350 different animal species including the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger and Sumatran Elephant. The forest is also home to active, indegenious populations like Batin Sembilan.
conservation, community engagement & empowerment.
BMW, Pirelli, and BirdLife International aim to improve the quality of life of the indigenous community by protecting farmers’ land rights and protecting women’s rights, conserving 2,700 hectares of deforestation-free areas and protecting endangered species.
In order to achieve their goals, the three organisations have formulated a three-year plan which includes multiple activities such as agroforestry, local community engagement and animal conservation. It will be implemented by a number of non-governmental organisations in Indonesia, coordinated by the local consortium PT Restorasi Ekosistem Indonesia (PT Reki).
Other activities in the plan include:
- Agricultural practices – Training for smallholders on good cultivation and plantation management that are in line with the environment’s needs. These practices will also help boost productivity, and improve the smallholders’ living and working conditions.
- Agro-forestry – Rubber tree cultivation will be improved to optimise the relationship between production, soil fertility, diversification of revenue streams, conservation of biodiversity and capitalisation of resources in a circular way.
- Care and protection for animals – monitoring and census taking of animals at risk such as the Sumatran tiger, Helmeted Hornbill, Greater Green Leafbird and Agile gibbon with help from the local communities.
- Forest protection – monitoring and checks of the forest area through wardens, drones and satellite control technologies.
- Female empowerment – Workshops for women to pick up managerial skills, particularly for activities involved in sustainable management of natural rubber and the protection of the forest and its ecosystem.
- Traceability and use of sustainable natural rubber – Growers’ Cooperative to permit the direct supply of natural rubber to the region’s processing plants. This will also include the introduction of documentation for the traceability of the rubber from plantation to processor.
These activities will be implemented in line with the goals of the Global Platform of Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), a platform for the sustainable development of the natural rubber businesses. BMW Group, Pirelli and Birdlife International are founder members of the GPSNR.
forging sustainable rubber production pathways together.
This is not the first time Pirelli and BMW Group have teamed up for sustainability. In 2021, Pirelli manufactured the first tyre in the world, the Pirelli P Zero, that was qualified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a council which attests to the sustainable management of forests throughout the entire manufacturing process. This tyre was fitted onto the BMW X5 Plug-in-Hybrid.
With the three-year plan, Pirelli and BMW Group are leading the way for sustainable rubber production.
“The development of this project rests on the principles of transparency and tangibility which have always guided Pirelli’s actions. Together with BMW Group in support of objectives shared with BirdLife, we intend to be an active part of a project that aims to have a sustainable impact all round on natural rubber, in the belief that community, biodiversity and business must grow by supporting each other, creating a shared socio-environmental value,” Giovanni Tronchetti Provera, Pirelli’s Senior Vice President for Sustainability and Future Mobility commented.
In an era where conservation & sustainability is an increasingly pressing need, it is absolutely grounds for optimism to see major corporations coming together for the future of the environment.
To learn more about Hutan Harapan, visit Hutan Harapan’s official website, or learn more about the plan by Pirelli, BMW Group, and BirdLife International here.
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