生物多样性
了解和保护我们工作所在地的栖息地。
生物多样性为何重要
Greif focuses on biodiversity to help preserve a healthy environment. By taking actions to understand and manage the potential impacts of our operations on ecosystem services and biodiversity, we position ourselves to preserve natural resources. Through our land management operations and services, we are dedicated to conserving the Earth’s biodiversity and ecosystem functions to promote wildlife and habitat restoration.
治理
244,600
管理面积
We practice sustainable forestry across our operations in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi and offer services to improve land management practices across industries.
Since December 2008, Soterra, LLC, our subsidiary engaged in Land Management, has adhered to the principles of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and followed Best Management Practices defined by each state for its managed timberlands. Soterra forests provide timberland habitat for wildlife, forestry management services and serve as a space for recreational land use. Soterra operates in the Southeastern United States, managing 244,600 acres of timberland in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. In 2020, Soterra forests sequestered over 1,705,000 tons of CO2.
SFI and state-specific Best Management Practices guide Soterra’s harvesting and overall forestry practices to ensure we adhere to all regulatory requirements and apply the highest standard practices throughout our operations whenever possible. We apply a sustainable harvest methodology based on a 30-year rotation to our timberlands. Prior to harvesting any site, we conduct a thorough review of the area to assess the overall biodiversity value of the site and identify any protected animal or plant species that may be impacted by the harvest. If any areas within a site are identified as having a high biodiversity value, or serve as a habitat to a protected species, appropriate buffer zones are established to ensure that species is not impacted and, if necessary, preparation and harvesting methods will be altered accordingly. To-date, no Soterra managed lands have been identified as having high biodiversity value, however since 2008, nine species of concern have been identified within our geographic areas and protected when necessary. In 2020, the black pine snake was newly designated as a species of concern on Greif-managed properties.
We work to improve our land management practices through technology whenever possible. In 2007, we began implementing geographic information systems to track our planting, maintenance and harvesting activities and using drone technology to more efficiently and safely assess the health of our forests. We continued to expand on these efforts in 2020 to support better site preparation for harvesting and evaluate potential pest outbreaks. To date, our drone pilots have mapped over 100,000 acres of company and private land.
2020 saw continued growth off our consulting services, which have helped us regenerate and plant trees on over 18,000 total acres planted on private land since 2016. We continued working with landowners to implement responsible land management practices and hosting socially distanced field days with landowner associations focusing on providing education on seedling genetics, reforesting best practices and leveraging drone technology.
In 2021, we will continue to diversify our services to maintain our ability to run our business with sustainable practices, including an initiative to plant one tree for every mile driven by our land management team and volunteer days for our colleagues to engage with the communities in which they work. We will continue to improve our land management practices and evaluate techniques to support greater carbon sequestration in support of offsetting Greif’s overall carbon footprint.
传粉者栖息地改善研究
2013 年标志着一项为期多年的传粉媒介研究项目的结束，该项目在南密西西比州的 Greif/Soterra LLC 林地进行。这项研究与传粉媒介伙伴关系和 NAPCC（世界上传粉问题方面的顶尖专家）联合进行，旨在了解传粉媒介如何影响林地景观中野生动物的食物供应、在景观中饲养蜜蜂和养蜂人的附加价值，并发现森林景观生态系统服务的最佳管理实践。
该研究为可持续林地管理实践提出了一些有趣的建议，这些建议将使林地所有者、传粉者物种、当地野生动物和生态系统都受益。Greif 致力于其可持续土地利用平台，并将帮助将任何由此产生的出版物分发给全球的行业合作伙伴、监管机构和学术界成员，以影响林地系统的积极环境管理。
2013 年，可持续林业倡议 (SFI) 授予 Soterra LLC 和传粉者伙伴关系令人垂涎的保护领导奖，以表彰这项研究。路易斯安那州还通过在 2018 年春季宣布全州传粉者周来认可该计划的努力。截至 2021 年，Soterra LLC 将继续以活跃的董事会成员身份参与传粉者伙伴关系，继续支持与传粉者在我们生态系统中的重要性有关的教育、推广、保护和科学研究。要了解更多信息，请参阅我们的文章
雨水桶计划荣获管理环境奖
In 2018, Soterra established a partnership with the National Estuary Program to use donated Greif drums to collect rainwater. Through the program, each drum is outfitted with a rain barrel conversion kit to help store, capture and put rainwater to good use. The barrels are installed in impoverished areas with historically high utility costs that are also prone to flooding and water pollution associated with excessive water runoff. By the end of 2021, 200 drums capable of providing 260,000* gallons of water will be installed in the community. In 2019, we received an Environmental Stewardship award from Partners for Environmental Progress in recognition of the program.
*根据美国环境保护署的数据，在夏季高峰期，一个雨水桶可以节省 1,300 加仑的水。
