Partnership will enhance 26,000 acres of pollinator habitat
over the next five years
PLANO,
Texas, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pollinators
put food on our tables. One out of every three bites we eat comes
to us courtesy of pollinators such as bees, butterflies, moths,
flower flies, beetles and bats. Today, Toyota is donating
$400,000 to the National
Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) and the Pollinator
Partnership (P2) that will be used to enhance 26,000 acres of
pollinator habitat across North
America over the next five years.
"Toyota believes in supporting pollinator populations because
they are so critical to our food system," said Becky Martin, manager of environmental
sustainability at Toyota. "We are working with NEEF and P2 to
enhance 26,000 acres of habitat, which is the same size as our land
footprint in North America, with
experts in pollinator conservation."
The nonprofit NEEF will develop and administer the 2022
Biodiversity Conservation Grant Program, which will fund projects
to create, improve and protect habitats for butterflies, bees, bats
and others. The organization will select the grantees, manage the
payments and work with the grantees during the life of their
project. NEEF will also be responsible for evaluating and reporting
back to Toyota on the projects and their impacts.
"NEEF will also work with Toyota to provide hands-on volunteer
activities to allow Toyota team members and their families to
actively participate in pollinator enhancement projects supported
by the grant program," said Tony
Richardson, program director for Public Lands Engagement at
NEEF. "There is an incredible demand for this type of support and
incredible work going on throughout the country."
P2 will distribute native wildflower seeds to qualified
applicants to plant in prairies, meadows, gardens or other habitats
that already have flowering vegetation. Adding flowering plants
boosts the overall health and diversity of the habitat. Recipients
of the seeds include private landowners, non-profits and local,
state and federal government agencies. Thus far, P2 has supported
76 project sites across 13 states, Mexico and Canada totaling 1500 acres.
"About 75% of crop plants require or benefit from pollination
and ecosystems would seriously decline or go extinct without
pollinators," commented Kelly
Rourke, executive director of P2. "Pollinators play a
necessary role in the reproduction of up to 90% of flowering plants
around the world."
P2 is partnering with the World Wildlife Fund Mexico to support
their ongoing reforestation work in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere
Reserve (MBBR), located on the border of the central Mexico states of Michoacan and Estado de Mexico. Funding from this program is being
used to support the production of 40,000 tree seedlings, including
20,000 oyamel firs and 20,000 Mexican pines, which monarchs use for
their overwintering ground. These trees will be used to reforest
around 100 acres of land.
In Canada, P2 is working with
Pollinator Partnership Canada (P2C) to support habitat restoration
on smaller parcels in British
Columbia that will be used for community education and
engagement.
Biodiversity is one of Toyota's four environmental
sustainability focus areas in North
America. Biodiversity refers to the variety and
interdependence of species and ecosystems and the natural patterns
they form. Toyota's biodiversity strategy is based on harnessing
the knowledge of experts to help protect species, restore habitats
and expand the reach of Toyota's efforts to achieve broader
positive conservation results.
Seventeen Toyota sites across North
America have already planted pollinator gardens to nurture
monarch butterflies and other pollinator species along the monarch
migration path. In addition, Toyota has also worked with the
Suppliers Partnership for the Environment to launch the Pollinator
Project Challenge. Participating automakers and suppliers across
North America have planted more
than 200 pollinator gardens during the period from 2020-2021.
To learn more about the expansion project, please read a feature
story published on Toyota's newsroom:
https://pressroom.toyota.com/toyota-and-environmental-leaders-work-to-protect-and-expand-pollinator-habitats.
If you want to learn more about Toyota's efforts in
biodiversity, please visit Toyota's website:
https://www.toyota.com/usa/environmentreport/biodiversity.
Media Contact; Cindy Knight
cindy.knight@toyota.com
ABOUT POLLINATOR PARTNERSHIP (P2)
Established in 1997, Pollinator Partnership is the largest 501(c) 3
non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to the health,
protection, and conservation of all pollinating animals. Pollinator
Partnership's actions for pollinators include education,
conservation, restoration, policy, and research. P2's financial
support comes through grants, gifts, memberships and donations from
any interested party. Its policies are science-based, set by its
board of directors, and never influenced by any donor. To make a
donation or for information, visit www.pollinator.org.
Media Contact:
Kelly Rourke
kr@pollinator.org
ABOUT NEEF:
The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) is the
nation's leading organization in lifelong environmental learning,
creating opportunities for people to experience and learn about the
environment in ways that improve their lives and the health of the
planet. Congressionally chartered in 1990 as a 501c3 nonprofit to
complement the work of the US Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), NEEF is a non-partisan, non-advocacy organization working to
make the environment more accessible, relatable, relevant, and
connected to people's daily lives.
Media Contact:
Amy
Skalmusky
VP of Marketing
askalmusky@neefusa.org
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SOURCE Toyota Motor North America