Bristol Zoo Gardens wins award from Forestry Stewardship Council - 30/09/11

Submitted by lucy on Fri, 2011-09-30 14:39

Staff from Bristol Zoo Gardens have been presented with a special achievement Award from the Forestry Stewardship Council today (Friday 30 September).

The award recognises the work of Bristol Zoo in promoting the FSC through education sessions and activities for all ages.

Bristol Zoo’s education officers routinely introduce the FSC symbol and recommend buying FSC endorsed wood and paper products during Bristol Zoo's learning team accept their FSC awardthese sessions.

In addition the Zoo’s Wow! Gorillas outreach officer, Natasha Iannaccone, has also discussed the FSC logo and encouraged teachers and pupils to buy FSC products during assemblies and workshops that the Zoo has run for 93 schools and over 15,500 children and young people this summer.

The conservation benefits of FSC have also been highlighted at the business and community outreach events that Natasha has attended for organisations that have sponsored a Wow! Gorilla.

Over the summer the Zoo’s education centre foyer was dominated by a giant FSC display for the public to decorate with paper leaves. Visitors were also encouraged to have a look through the FSC trolley which contained a variety of wood and paper items and count how many products carried the FSC logo.

The Zoo also ran a competition for members of the public to send in photographs of themselves with an FSC product. All responses have been entered into a competition to win a gorilla adoption and the winning entry will be selected today – which has been designated ‘FSC Friday’.

Tallulah Chapman from FSC presented the award to Dave Naish, Education Manager at Bristol Zoo, at Meerkat Lookout.

Dave said: “We are delighted to receive this award from FSC. We have been promoting FSC to zoo visitors for years. Gradually everyone is realising that buying FSC certified products is such an easy, accessible way to make a worthwhile long lasting contribution to the conservation of forests around the world.

“In addition promoting FSC fits in really well with the conservation fieldwork the Zoo supports and with the Zoo’s sustainability policy, so we look forward to working with FSC for many years to come.”

Friday, September 30 is FSC Friday and in this, the International Year of Forests, the Forest Stewardship Council is hoping that more people than ever will join this global celebration of the world’s forests.  

FSC Friday is celebrated annually around the world at the end of September and the aim is to raise awareness of the importance of responsible forestry and highlight the meaning of the FSC “tick tree” logo

The charity, FSC UK, is asking people to consider where the wood and paper in their shopping baskets comes from.   The world’s forests are still being destroyed at an alarming rate and the products of this deforestation can be found in shops throughout the UK.  FSC believes that this is unacceptable and works to ensure that people can buy forest products with the confidence that they are helping to safeguard forests, not destroy them.

ENDS

 

For press enquiries please contact the Bristol Zoo Gardens press office:

Lucy King, T: 0117 974 7396, E: lking@bristolzoo.org.uk

Vanessa Hollier, T: 0117 974 7309, E: vhollier@bristolzoo.org.uk

  1. Throughout 2011 we’re bring people, businesses, charities and wildlife together to share amazing experiences that raise awareness and funds to save threatened wildlife and places. To find out more, visit www.bristolzoo.org.uk/whats-on
  2. Bristol Zoo has supported and been actively in gorilla conservation in Cameroon since 1998.
  3. Throughout 2011 we will be focusing our efforts on raising funds and awareness in support of gorilla conservation.
  4. Throughout 2011 Bristol Zoo will support the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria Ape Campaign. The campaign aims to make a significant and lasting contribution to the continued survival of apes and their habitats, and is being led by Dr Bryan Carroll, the Director of Bristol Zoo.
  5. To find out more about the EAZA Ape Campaign visit the Zoo website at www.bristolzoo.org.uk/conservation-campaigns.
  6. Bristol Zoo is involved with more than 100 co-ordinated breeding programmes for threatened wildlife species. 
  7. Itemploys over 150 full and part-time staff to care for the animals and run a successful visitor attraction to support its conservation and education work. 
  8. Bristol Zoo supports – through finance and skill sharing - 15 projects in the UK and abroad that conserveand protectsome of the world’s most endangered species.
  9. In 2010 Bristol Zoo Gardens set up a Conservation Fund to raise vital funds to help care for threatened animals and plants – both in the Zoo and through the conservation work we do in the UK and around the world.
  10. BristolZoo Gardensis a member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums. BIAZA represents more than 90 member collections and promotes the values of good zoos and aquariums.