A PARTNERSHIP FOR PEOPLE AND PLANET
In late 2021 Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) forged a brilliant partnership with the Bupa Foundation called ‘Healthy Planet, Healthy People’.
Bupa is a healthcare company committed to helping people live longer, healthier & happier lives and making a better world. Conservation Volunteers empowers communities across Australia to take action for a thriving future for humans and nature. This shared commitment to people and planet is at the heart of the partnership. After all, the health of the planet and the health of humans is intrinsically interwoven.
The partnership is a significant next step in Conservation Volunteer’s ambitious 5-year agenda to build and activate a nationwide community of 1 million Nature Stewards focused on protecting our natural environment against climate change and biodiversity loss and their impacts.
At the launch of the partnership, Bupa Asia Pacific CEO, Hisham El-Ansary, said: “As millions of Australians emerge from life in lockdown, there has never been a better time to focus on our physical and mental health, spending time with other people in nature through volunteering. We want to help build a national movement of people who understand, value and benefit from connecting with and nurturing our natural environment”
The “Healthy Planet, Healthy People” initiative will promote the physical and mental health benefits of volunteering as well as nature conservation. There is an increasing body of research from the University of Essex that proves beyond doubt that volunteering in nature has a positive impact on human wellbeing.
The partnership began with an investment of $250,000 to assist with research and designing best practice nature experiences for all Australians. As soon as Melbournians came out of lockdown, the Bupa Foundation encouraged its people to leave their desks and get their hands dirty, clearing plastic and rubbish from Altona Beach (see below).
Many companies around the globe have adopted the UN Sustainable Development Goals (otherwise known as SDG’s) as a blueprint for action around important social & environmental issues. For the Bupa Foundation, the partnership with Conservation Volunteers Australia delivers on 5 of the goals.
This partnership reflects a bold new chapter for CVA. For many years the organisation has focused on the environment but now there is significant evidence that volunteering in nature has innumerable health benefits for humans.
Geraldine Rep, Strategic Partnerships Director at CVA, embraced and embedded the BePartnerReady.com® program in 2020, because she saw the opportunity for CVA to engage corporates in multi-layered partnerships that promote the broader health benefits of volunteering. This partnership was the first of many that she has successfully forged.
The partnership has already been recognised as a 2021 Shared Value Award Finalist, in the Project of the year early-stage category. Congratulations to Geraldine and the entire team at CVA and the Bupa Foundation, we look forward to seeing the wonderful things you create together for people and planet!
More info:
Hailey Cavill-Jaspers
