Last week it was International Day for Biological Diversity. The parent company of Aggregate Industries used the opportunity to remind us:
In 2017 we signed an agreement with @FaunaFloraInt to accelerate our efforts on #biodiversity #conservation in Southeast Asia. https://t.co/nxETFe1Unb #BiodiversityDay pic.twitter.com/kDOXuQs7u8— LafargeHolcim (@LafargeHolcim) May 22, 2018
It’s interesting that LafargeHolcim should point people towards #biodiversity #conservation in Southeast Asia, because it was only in 2014 that an article by Tony Juniper in The Guardian, "A tiny, rare snail in Malaysia has big consequences for global cement giant", told us that "For the first time ever, a 'new' species has been named after the company that has the power to either conserve or destroy it"; Lafarge – now part of LafargeHolcim – was that company:
The naming of the snail will hopefully be the catalyst for a credible conservation plan at Gunung Kanthan and lead to Charopa lafargei ultimately being a source of pride and inspiration for Lafarge, rather than a reminder of corporate indifference to the rising tide of extinction that each day gathers more momentum.
Cement companies have form in the extinction business. Another article in the same year, "Cement company blows up limestone hill and renders snail extinct" was referring to "Malaysian multinational YTL, owner of Wessex Water" and about how "Humble snails are no match for the might and indifference of the global cement industry". The article again reminded us that a mollusc was "named Charopa lafargei after Lafarge in a bid to prevent the global and aggregates giant from decimating it". Fauna & Flora International’s Asia regional director was scathing, both of the cement industry:
They tout their biodiversity pages in their websites and sustainability reports with pictures of ducks and frogs and children enjoying the wetlands created from the hills they remove. They give and receive prizes for their restoration work – but do not acknowledge what is being lost.
and of Lafarge:
They would never have taken note of the snail unless the scientists had named it after them. Lafarge did not like it ... But the reality is I had been talking with them for 15 years and you get to the point where that discussion gets nowhere. This led Fauna & Flora International to resign from their international biodiversity panel.
The company has now signed a biodiversity agreement with Fauna & Flora International in order "to help LafargeHolcim meet the biodiversity aspects of its 2030 sustainability plan":
Biodiversity loss is a major global challenge. We aim to be good stewards of the land where we operate and demonstrate that proper management of quarries can reduce and reverse our impacts and even generate positive change for biodiversity.
But nothing has changed for Charopa lafargei. It is still on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species – "Critically Endangered, with the likelihood of extinction when quarrying operations are commenced."
And that's obviously not something LafargeHolcim would want to tell the world on #BiodiversityDay.
