A team of volunteers from EY took part in a conservation day at Fort Le Marchant to support Guernsey Conservation Volunteers with their work to maintain and enhance Guernsey’s biodiversity.
Over 20 EY volunteers supported Guernsey Conservation Volunteers with conservation activities, including removing invasive non-native species, sour fig and cape ivy, around Fort Le Marchant headland and L’Ancresse Common.
The EY team were also educated on the importance of this conservation work, as well as finding out about other invasive non-native species that occur in Guernsey.
These activities align with the Only One Earth EY campaign, an initiative which took place throughout June, inviting all EY employees to play their role in restoring biodiversity and raising awareness of why protecting and restoring biodiversity is so critical. This also supports EY’s global corporate responsibility programme, EY Ripples, which sets out to positively impact the lives of 1 billion people by 2030, with one of core areas of focus being through accelerating environmental sustainability.
Angela Salmon, group co-ordinator for Guernsey Conservation Volunteers, said: “It is fantastic to work with the team from EY at Fort Le Marchant headland. Sour Fig and Cape Ivy, two invasive non-native species, are causing problems around Guernsey by smothering native plants and reducing biodiversity.
“When Sour Fig and Cape Ivy are removed the native plants will re-grow from the seeds in the soil. The variety of native plants that re-grow will increase biodiversity and provide food and shelter for pollinating insects and small mammals. Fort Le Marchant headland is a large area where there is a lot of Sour Fig and Cape Ivy; having an enthusiastic team from EY to help remove these invasive plant species will make a huge difference to the natural environment and biodiversity.”
David Mosley, Assurance Director at EY, who also took part in the volunteering day, said: “We are pleased to have been able to take time out of the office to support the great work Guernsey Conservation Volunteers is doing to protect our local biodiversity and play our part in EY’s global Only One Earth campaign.
“Having the opportunity to learn more about how we can make simple changes to have a positive impact on our environment is so important to ensuring we all play out part in a more sustainable future for the island.”
