Environment.

Candriam wishes to contribute to the reversal of deforestation trends, in order to bring back valuable and productive ecosystems, contribute to mitigating climate change and reclaim ecosystem services benefiting to the local communities. Candriam has therefore chosen to support WeForest a non-profit organization which works towards the reforestation of degraded land in primarily tropical regions. They deploy best practices that relate to landscape restoration, poverty alleviation and social justice.

Restoration of the casamance mangroves in Senegal

Replant mangroves on 2,245 hectares. This is the objective of this ambitious WeForest project, which aims to revitalize the mangroves in order to ensure a high level of biodiversity and to restore sustainable and profitable fishing and farming activities for local communities. It will become part of one of the largest "carbon-certified" mangrove restoration programs in the world. This project will make a significant contribution to the call of the "United Nations Decade for Ecosystem Restoration". The project will seek to obtain and manage a double certification: Verified Carbon Standard and Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB).

Candriam’s project commitment:

• Duration: 3 years, starting in 2021
• Impact: restoration of 523 ha of mangroves
• WeForest is restoring over 2245ha of mangroves in the Casamance delta, aiming to revitalise this ecosystem in order to ensure a high level of biodiversity and to restore sustainable and profitable fishing and farming activities for local communities.
  Candriam committed to restore 494hectares and a subsequent employee engagement campaign supported another 29hectares to be restored. This is equivalent to planting approximately 2.3million seedlings.
  Progress Update: All the original 494 hectares, and the additional 29hectares have been planted by the end of Dec 2022 - ahead of schedule due to the favourable rainy season and good planting conditions.
  The project is awaiting it's certification under the internationally recognised VCS and CCB

Protecting the environment is one of Candriam Institute for Sustainable Development’s four essential pillars. In the context of the climate emergency and the rapidly increasing risks caused by biodiversity loss, we chose to target our latest actions specifically at maintaining and restoring natural habitats. We have identified three initiatives led by nature specialists, anchored in our surroundings, because we believe in the power of each small and concrete step.