With the unfortunate cancellation of OutDoor by ISPO, Europe’s largest outdoor trade fair, at the end of this month, the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) will, for the first time, run their Conservation Fundraiser online. An event which would ordinarily be hosted at the show, EOCA have taken the opportunity to launch their first ever online fundraiser on Saturday 27th June. (more…)
The new month has brought fresh hope for conservation with the opening of the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA)’s latest funding round. Applications will be accepted until the 30th June and the association is looking specifically for projects involving plastic waste clean up.
In line with its two year Plastic Free: Mountain to Sea campaign, with a target set to clear 3000km of trail, coast, river and mountain from plastic waste, this summer’s funding round is appealing for organisations involved in cleaning habitats from the blight of rubbish to apply for up to €30,000 to help raise awareness of the issue, reduce single use plastic waste at source, and clean up the habitats where it is already causing damage, pollution and threatening wildlife. (more…)
Following a nail-biting members’ vote, the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) is delighted to announce three projects which will receive funding from the organisation this Spring.
The rapidly changing global circumstances over the last 2 months unfortunately led to the cancellation of the popular public online vote to help EOCA chose its first funded projects of 2020. However, following a record number of 120 applications late last year, the members’ private vote went ahead as planned over the last 2 weeks, presenting 6 shortlisted projects all looking for support for their vital conservation work. Despite lockdown and working from home, the largest number of EOCA members to date got involved in having their say.
The first three projects to be funded this year are: (more…)
COVID-19 is having a large effect on every aspect of our lives at the moment, and we are currently working out what that means for EOCA and what we can realistically hope to achieve this year.
See below for the impact which it is going to have on the first of our public votes. We are also reviewing how many projects we will be able to fund this year, firstly because we are expecting a drop in our own funding, and secondly because the vast majority of our projects work within communities, with support of public events and volunteers to carry out essential work – which will necessarily be postponed for the immediate future. As so much is impacted by this crisis, and so much is unknown, we will need to regularly reassess the situation and alter what we do accordingly.
It is thought to be highly likely that this, and many other new viruses introduced to humans, are caused by the ever increasing proximity with which we are getting to wild animals, particularly due to the never-ending destruction of natural habitats. Far from EOCA being a ‘nice to do’, this crisis highlights that the work we fund and the organisations that carry it out are becoming more and more vital … for wildlife, for habitats and for the human race.
See HERE for a thought-provoking article.
INFO: EOCA
The European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) is proud to announce that at ISPO 2020, around 85% of its exhibiting members plus 13 non members implemented its Plastic Pledge, avoiding the use of single-use plastic when serving refreshments on their stands. These actions, together with those taken by Messe München, DB Schenker and individual visitors at the show significantly reduced plastic waste from the show.
Prior to OutDoor by ISPO 2019, EOCA launched its Plastic Pledge, calling on exhibitors to reduce their single-use plastic waste produced at the show. The Pledge committed exhibitors to not use or provide single-use plastic bottled drinks, to take all possible measures to avoid single-use plastic food or drink items and to provide a source of drinking water for visitors and staff to use to refill their own bottles and mugs throughout the 4 days. In addition, EOCA provided guidance notes on reducing other single-use plastics associated with attending tradeshows. At OutDoor by ISPO 2019, 60% of EOCA members signed and implemented the Pledge. Interest grew, and EOCA was delighted that by ISPO 2020, around 85% of EOCA members had signed the Pledge, as well as 13 non-members of EOCA. In addition, many individual visitors signed up to support the Pledge on the EOCA stand and many more purchased reusable bottles, cups and flasks to use around the show and beyond.
Camelbak and Klean Kanteen served fabulous coffee at the show – but only into reusable cups. In total, they served around 2000 coffees and so saved 2000 single-use cups being used. EOCA worked with Messe München who supported the aims of the Pledge by providing access to kitchens in all halls for washing of reusable items and installed hydration stations in half of the halls. Single-use carpet at the show was also reduced, a move that EOCA very much supports and hopes to see reduce further at future shows.
DB Schenker is responsible for storing all of the boxes of products generously donated to EOCA by its members for sale at the shows and then transporting them to and from the EOCA booth. Traditionally, these boxes are shrink wrapped for the journey on the pallet trolley between the storage area and the stand. Prior to the show, EOCA asked DB Schenker if reusable items could be used to secure the boxes and were delighted when they immediately agreed. In fact no materials were used to secure the boxes stacked safely on the trolley. It is estimated that this saved 5kg of single-use shrink wrap being used. As well as reducing plastic waste, this has reduced our carbon footprint at the show. Not using 5kg of shrink wrap saves the production of 13kg of carbon dioxide equivalent*. One tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent is estimated to be around the size of a hot air balloon. It is easy to see how the various actions taken at this show through the plastic pledge will have saved many carbon emission equivalents, and more importantly, how we can reduce many hot air balloons of carbon emission equivalents by expanding the actions we all take to reduce single-use plastic use at this and other shows. (more…)
EOCA had a really successful ISPO edition and this is a good news also for the environment. Watch the video interview with Tanya Bascombe (EOCA General Manager) and support EOCA.
For the third year in a row, Italian technical footwear, clothing and accessories brand La Sportiva has used its sales during the ‘Black Friday’ weekend to support nature conservation. Generously donating 20% of the weekend’s income to the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA), La Sportiva has been able to boost the funds available to the Association’s conservation projects.
EOCA was delighted when its member La Sportiva took the initiative to raise extra funds for the Association to spend on conservation during 2017 and then again in 2018 and 2019. In total, a donation of €4400 for the Association was raised through the fundraising activity in 2019, 100% of which the Association will put into the conservation projects it supports during 2020. The cheque was handed to EOCA at ISPO 2020 in Munich. The projects it will support will conserve threatened landscapes, habitats and species, and will also have a clear link to the outdoor enthusiast. (more…)
The European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) is looking forward to ISPO at the end of the week, where signs of last year’s enthusiasm for the association continue to grow. Increased participants for the Plastic Pledge, more items for the Conservation Fundraiser and a panel talk to raise awareness about EOCA are just a few of the things to look forward to early on in this new decade. (more…)
The European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) is looking forwards to 2020 by celebrating its most successful year to date in more ways than one. Record number of new members, more money than ever in one year spent on conservation projects, over 2/3 of funds raised already for its public fundraiser project and the launch and enthusiastic uptake of its Plastic Pledge have all combined to ensure that 2019 will be remembered as the year the association moved from being a ‘nice to do’ to becoming an essential part of a business’s CSR strategy. (more…)
The European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) is set to grant €180,000 to conservation projects this autumn and is calling on everyone to help it select the projects to receive the funds.
Catherine Savidge, Joint General Manager of EOCA said “following a summer of carefully assessing and scoring over 70 different funding applications and discussing them with our Scientific Advisers, we are now delighted that we have a shortlist of worthwhile conservation projects, all of which EOCA wishes it could fund. This autumn, EOCA has €180,000 to grant to projects and so is asking for your help to choose which projects receive the funding.”
The public vote runs until noon (BST)/13.00hrs (CEST) on the 21st October. There are three categories of projects and voters can select one project in each category per electronic device. One category is devoted to Plastic Pollution Clean Up actions. This is in line with EOCA’s current two year focus on this issue through which the association and its members are aiming to clear 3000 km of habitat of plastic pollution – the distance from the Mediterranean Coast to Lapland. The other two categories of projects have a wide range of other important conservation issues represented from around the world, all with a link to the outdoor enthusiast.
“Repeatedly, we get feedback from projects involved in the vote that taking part brings many benefits to them beyond selecting which projects receive funding” explained Catherine. “ It is an opportunity to raise awareness of their projects on an international platform, and to highlight the critical conservation issue they are working on. Time and again, the projects get support from unexpected places during the vote including national press, TV and radio, celebrities and politicians.”
The vote is hosted on the EOCA website here. One of the three categories is also hosted on Mountainblog Europe
Following the public vote, an EOCA members-only vote will run from Thursday 24th October until Friday 1 November to choose further projects from the shortlist to receive funding.
INFO: EOCA
Our Vision: The outdoor sector and the millions of people who enjoy the great outdoors are active champions for the conservation of nature and wild places*
* EOCA defines 'wild places' as non-urban environments and ecosystems occurring in as natural a state as possible, given the area's location and use. This may include for example moorland, hills, mountains, coasts, rivers, forest, grassland, peatland, lake and ocean areas.
There are currently over 150 members of this not-for profit Association, stretching from Norway to Italy, and Spain to Poland. As a charitable organisation directly funding specific conservation projects with money raised from the European outdoor industry, EOCA enables the industry to work together to make a real difference.
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European Outdoor Conservation Association
Registered as a not-for-profit association in Kanton Zug, Switzerland
Registration no. CH-170.6.000.188-3
tel: +44 (0) 1539 727255
info@eocaconservation.org
www.eocaconservation.org
