How did it happen?

A team from Kew was involved in the landscape planning and in providing expertise in horticulture, land restoration, seed quality, and project implementation with local landscape designers and contractors.

The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust also collaborated in the project. Burnaston employees were encouraged to engage in the project, learn about the thinking behind the changes and get involved in the planting process.

What’s the result?

The 2.35 million square metre (580 acre) Burnaston site contains areas of meadow, grassland, wetlands, woods and hedgerows, and is home to more than 400 plant and animal species, some of them rare and protected.

Working with Kew’s world-class experts in plant science, we have created even more natural habitats, with a plan to restore a further 230,000 square metres by 2020.

What’s next?

Experts from Kew are helping biodiversity projects at Toyota’s sites in Belgium: our European headquarters in Brussels, technical centre in Zaventem and parts logistics centre in Diest.

These and other projects clearly demonstrate that a manufacturer, working with an internationally renowned research and educational organisation, can create an ecologically rich environment that connects with its local surroundings and community, to ensure a future society in harmony with nature.

What’s involved?

“It started a few years ago when we constructed an insect hotel at TPCE. This is a wooden framework where insects can find refuge, lay their eggs and hibernate. The next step was to construct a pond. It’s been great to see it being used by dragonflies, frogs and salamanders. In the evening, bats swoop over the water, catching insects.

Tree planting activities have been organised on several occasions, involving TPCE employees and the local community. Through tree planting, we create a natural corridor between the industrial zone, where we are located, and the surrounding farmland. This will enable animals to easily migrate from one side to the other; as if our 100,000 square metre warehouse wasn’t there at all!”

Who else was involved?

“For some of these biodiversity projects, TPCE is working closely with Groenwerk De Winning, a local social economy employer. They installed the insect hotel and are bringing their expertise to gradually transform the environment around the facility from a lawn and concrete dominated scenery to a less controlled, more biodiverse environment where wild flowers thrive.“

How did the environment change?

“Invasive exotic trees were eradicated and replaced with native species, to create the ideal environment for native birds, insects, rabbits, etc. The grass is no longer cut every month, but only twice a year to allow the wild flower meadows to flourish.”

Is that a yellowhammer I can hear singing?

“Yes! The yellowhammer is a small farmland bird that is under threat from modern agriculture. It won TPCE’s internal elections to become the ‘cherished neighbour’.

The yellowhammer is basically the group’s mascot and great efforts have been made to take care of it. Actions include making sure that hedges and woods are managed carefully to create the perfect habitat for this little bird.”

What is so special about this region?

The Tisza river is one of the most important and most sensitive water arteries in Central Eastern Europe. The area used to be a beautiful mosaic of sparsely forested floodplain grasslands, wetlands and softwood forests. A large part of the area is nationally protected as a park, and internationally protected as a Ramsar* wetland site. Key species, some with a global significance, such as black stork, white-tailed eagle, saker falcon, Eurasian beaver and countless water birds migrate to the area in the spring.

However, due to the rapid expansion of invasive plants such as Amorphy fructicosa, the original vegetation has been forced back along the river. The consequences are extremely damaging: a loss of biodiversity, reduced flooding capacity, and birds are prevented from nesting and animals from finding shelter.

What’s changed?

Thanks to our partnership with WWF, these invasive plants have been eradicated to restore the floodplain to its former glory. Water buffalo have been reintroduced in wetland areas and Hungarian long-horned grey cattle in woody grassland areas to help restore the grasslands to their former species-rich splendour.

Semi-managed grazing also attracts new biodiversity to the wetlands, such as water birds. Beavers have been reintroduced to diversify the wetland’s landscape and restructure floodplain habitats.

Why is this so important?

The combination of grazing and invasive plant eradication is an ideal conservation effort to create ecological corridors and improve biodiversity quality on wetlands and grasslands. These changes provide an attractive landscape for eco-tourism, which can bring in additional revenues to economically diversify and better sustain this rural community.

With Toyota’s help it’s been possible to develop a community-based floodplain conservation project that could be expanded throughout the Carpathian region and in other regions where local communities rely heavily on floodplains.

How is Toyota involved?

Toyota has signed a five-year partnership with IUCN to provide funding to help IUCN achieve its goals. Toyota’s grant will enhance the Red List’s invaluable role in helping determine conservation policies; tracking progress toward reducing biodiversity loss providing data for scientific research and raising public awareness about species.

The funding will increase knowledge on the extinction risk of more than 28,000 species, including many that are key food sources for a significant portion of the global population.

So it also concerns our food supply?

Absolutely. IUCN experts have chosen to focus much of the newly funded research on the populations of plants and fish that billions of people depend on as a vital source of food. These include species of wild rice and wheat that are crucial to food security.

Additionally, marine fish, such as sardines, pilchards, sole and plaice will be assessed. They are not just a source of food for billions of people, but catching and processing them provides work for an estimated million people worldwide.