Sustainable Development

In 2005, the "Millennium Ecosystem Assessment" report estimated that 12% of birds, 25% of mammals and 32% of amphibians would be extinct by 2100. Many scientists now believe that the planet is experiencing its 6th major extinction crisis.

And France's national center for scientific research (CNRS) has identified 4 major interrelated causes to blame for this massive extinction:

• intensive exploitation of resources (hunting, fishing, etc.),
• invasions or proliferations of species,
• global warming,
• the destruction or degradation of ecosystems (urbanization, deforestation, soil and water pollution, unsustainable abstraction of water, etc.).

In light of this evidence, public powers, NGOs, scientists and also industrial companies must act to take the necessary action. The establishment of partnerships and shared initiatives now appears vital in order to move forward.

Lafarge now operates 730 quarries around the world, from which 450 million tons of rock are mined. In order to measure and control the environmental impact of its quarries, the Group has been working in partnership with WWF for 10 years.
This policy has 3 objectives:

• to analyze all quarries in operation to assess their environmental preservation potential,
• to develop a biodiversity program on all sensitive sites from an environmental perspective,
• to ensure that rehabilitation plans are in place for all quarries.

The indicators used to establish this strategy have been defined with WWF and verified by the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI), run by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

All new quarries opened by Lafarge must be given a rehabilitation plan before they even begin operation, whatever the environmental regulations in place in the country. The operations plan can even be adapted to special local characteristics following studies into sites' sensitivity.

• In Germany, teams from the Rahmstorf quarry are protecting a rare species of swallow, the bank swallow. The walls the swallows live in are left intact during nesting time.
• In the United States, Lafarge and WWF are launching a project to assess and analyze biodiversity at the Presque Isle quarry in Michigan.
• In Romania, Lafarge and WWF have developed a rehabilitation program for the Fusea aggregates quarry in partnership with local players in order to re-establish biodiversity at the site.
• In Kenya, the former quarry at the Bamburi cement plant, near Mombasa was redeveloped as a nature park. Out of the 422 plant species which were reintroduced or appeared spontaneously, 364 have survived, 30 of which are on the red list of endangered species drawn up by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• In Venezuela, the La Curiacha quarry was redeveloped with tree species native to the region to ensure the stability of the soils and prevent land slides.

 
The International Day of Biodiversity is an opportunity for Lafarge to demonstrate that quarries and biodiversity are far from being incompatible. The whole Group is getting involved and organizing various events:

• Lafarge is a partner of the 1st biodiversity symposium which will be held in London on July 13th and 14th, 2010,
• organization of open days at Lafarge's 17 quarries in France,
• raising children's awareness of biodiversity issues in France and the United States, etc.