Leap year for Deloitte
A new species of frog has been named after Deloitte, in recognition of the firm’s work in helping to preserve the Rubeho Forest in Tanzania, an ecologically distinct part of the country known as the ‘Galapagos of Africa’. Nectophrynoides deloittei was discovered in the Rubeho Forest in 2005 was named by the African Rainforest Conservancy (ARC), an agency set up to conserve and restore Africa’s rainforests.
Deloitte is a founder of the United Bank of Carbon, a UK registered charity that brokers partnerships between individual businesses and specific rainforest conservation projects run by established NGOs. Through this partnership, Deloitte identified a rainforest conservation project with ARC to provide an opportunity for its people to support an environmental cause through fundraising and volunteering.
The firm raised over £200,000 to support the project in the past year with all funds going towards the on-going conservation of the entire mountain and forest range in the Rubeho region and helping to ensure the local community can earn a sustainable living from the forest.
Heather Hancock, Managing Partner for Innovation and Brand at Deloitte, said: “This project was a pioneering move by Deloitte. We wanted to demonstrate our commitment to the rainforest, to biodiversity and to the development needs of local people. And we wanted to learn more about how we could make a difference in remote and important parts of the world.
“At Deloitte, we believe it is our responsibility to show leadership in tackling the environmental challenges that face us all. It is a rare honour that ARC have chosen to name a newly discovered species from the Ruhebo region for our firm, and one we will cherish”
Carter Coleman, President of the African Rainforest Conservancy said: “Twenty years of ‘on-the-ground’ projects led by ARC have yielded 10 million trees planted and many new economic and educational opportunities in Tanzania’s Eastern Arc region.
“By empowering those living amidst the forest—endowing them with project ownership—we have helped the local people remain invested in preserving their natural heritage for decades to come. The Deloitte Rainforest Conservation Project is a great example of this and we are delighted to honour Deloitte UK this year with the name of a new species”.
Progress on the project so far includes:
- Preserving 3,550 hectares of highly bio-diverse Rainforest – an area the size of Wales;
- Helping conserve 1.7 million tonnes per hectare of CO2;
- Training of the village committees responsible for managing the forests;
- Setting up engagement programmes with local government and the surrounding village;
- Development of land use plans for two of the villages, helping secure land tenure and ensure that land is used sustainably;
- Helping groups around Mafwomero with tree planting including providing them with tree nursery equipment and building their capacity to establish tree nurseries to respond to the local demand for training and basic equipment.
About Deloitte
In this press release references to Deloitte are references to Deloitte LLP, which is among the country’s leading professional services firms.
Deloitte LLP is the United Kingdom member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (“DTTL”), a UK private company limited by guarantee,, whose member firms are legally separate and independent entities. Please see www.deloitte.co.uk/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of DTTL and its member firms.
The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.
Member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited
About ARC
Founded in 1991, ARC is the only US non-profit organization that is exclusively dedicated to preserving Tanzania’s Eastern Arc. ARC works alongside its field partner the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG) <http://www.tfcg.org/> to support a network of 146 villages in eight mountain and coastal regions throughout Tanzania that are protecting 250,000 acres of forest— an area 300 times the size of New York’s Central Park. Focusing on advocacy, Participatory Forest Management (PFM), environmental education, community development, and biological research, TFCG is a leader in implementing high-impact solutions to address the severe challenges facing Tanzania’s forests—which supply 45 percent of Tanzania’s water and are one of the top twenty Global Biodiversity Hot Spots—and the millions of people who depend on them.
