ECOLOGICAL LAND MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
AN ETHICAL INVESTMENT APPROACH
FIELDFARE was established as an English private company in 1996 and became a public limited company in September 1999. It intends to utilise the resources of the ethical investment movement for promoting ecologically sustainable development and wise use of natural resources, especially in Eastern Europe, where it has a subsidiary in Ukraine (Salix).
Accordingly, the company has the following environmental and ethical objectives in its statutes, endorsed by the UK Ethical Investors Group:
= To promote ecologically sustainable development and the maintenance of ecological processes through wise use of natural resources, restoration of damaged ecosystems, conservation of genetic diversity, and increasing human understanding of and capabilities to protect global biodiversity.
= To adhere to an ethic of environmental care which strives to ensure that the operations of the company shall not result in unsustainable use of natural resources, emission of environmental pollutants, or wastage of materials, or lead to the destruction of the social fabric of local communities.
Business Strategy
The basic business concept for FIELDFARE focuses on three main areas of investment activity:
= Management of land retired from agricultural or other uses aimed at restoring or creating biodiversity value combined with sustainable use of the resources so developed (e.g. grazing by local breeds of livestock, fuelwood lots, harvesting reeds, wild fish angling);
= Reducing the impact of intensive arable crop production by encouraging organic farming, and introducing alternative low-input crops (e.g. hemp and flax);
= Establishing centres for retailing ecologically friendly products and renting offices to local environmental NGOs (which will also help to identify investment opportunities).
Further information and newsletters can be found in the Downloads page.
Partnerships
FIELDFARE supports and shares its experience with a number of partners involved in the development of biodiversity-related ethical investment. These include:
IUCN European Sustainable Use Specialist Group
European Biodiversity Resources Finance Initiative
