As a crop, tobacco depends on land. Agriculture
as a whole occupies more than 60% of all habitable land on Earth.
Like other forms of agriculture, tobacco growing and processing
pose a threat to biodiversity. Land clearing, habitat conversion,
harvesting of trees, introduction of non-native species, water
use, and soil and water contamination through application of agricultural
chemicals can all result in declining biodiversity.
The British American Tobacco Biodiversity Partnership attempts
to address some of the complex and challenging issues surrounding
the conservation of biodiversity within the corporate sector. It
seeks to do this by embedding biodiversity assessment, management
and conservation into British American Tobacco’s operations
from seed to smoke and improving conservation of biodiversity in
areas of mutual interest to the partners. The first years of the Partnership were spent building a set of
activities that assist countries where the partners operate in
meeting their obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity
(a global framework that guides conservation activities around
the world). As a sign of the partner’s continued commitment,
the Partnership was renewed for a second term of five years in
December 2005. |
