The Body Shop has announced plans to raise £2m by 2020 to build a further ten ‘bio-bridges’.
Set up in 2016, The World Bio-Bridges Mission aims to connect and protect areas of rich biodiversity, by creating bridges for endangered animals to move between habitats.
Initial projects were launched in Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, with consumers encouraged to help raise funds to help at-risk orangutans, tigers and monkeys.
Bill Oddie, Broadcaster and Ambassador for World Land Trust, The Body Shop’s partner for several Bio-Bridges projects, said: “Bio-Bridges!? What, like the one they were going to build over the Thames? No, much more useful than that, and a little more remote.
“Wild animals need to swing and leap freely through the trees and not be restricted to what few diminishing patches of wild habitat are left. What do they need to be able to cross safely from one patch to another? Bio-Bridges. There are never enough.”
The new bridges will be built in existing wildlife corridors; funding will vary dependent on conservation partner, habitat and region.
Local communities will be approached to help in the long-term protection of each Bio-Bridge habitat.
There will also be opportunities for communities to work with The Body Shop in sustainable ingredients partnerships.
Celebrity support
The Body Shop plans to raise funds by creating special edition products. The first will be its Amazonian Saviour Multi-Purpose Balm, which has gained popularity thanks to support from celebrities such as Kelly Osbourne.
