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Now here’s an environmental effort we can get behind — buying a bottle of wine can actually further marine conservation. Australian winemaker Banrock Station has joined forces with Australia’s World Wildlife Fund to help the country’s vulnerable green turtle population.
According to the company’s website, “through the Banrock Station Environmental Trust, Banrock Station will contribute approximately $750,000 to the Rivers to Reef to Turtles research initiative, a 4-year program that will seek to identify and measure the key pollutants in rivers, the Great Barrier Reef and in green turtles themselves. The project also hopes to contribute to the understanding of how sources and impacts of pollution are likely to affect turtles and the ecosystem as a whole.
WWF-Australia’s National Manager for Species, Terrestrial and Indigenous Partnerships, Darren Grover, said pollution is a key threat to the Great Barrier Reef.
“Our World Heritage listed Reef has lost nearly half of its coral cover since 1985, and pollution has been a major driver of this decline,” he said. “This new initiative will help us better understand the links between water quality and green-turtle health in the Great Barrier Reef. It will also inform baseline data for turtle health and help to improve efforts to manage runoff into the Reef.”
Banrock Station’s conservation efforts aren’t limited to the marine world; the socially conscious company is also involved in efforts to protect orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra, wetland restoration projects in Sweden, and a whole host of other environmental causes. So go ahead, have another glass. We’ll join you at 5pm.
