Over 50 of volunteers from EY took part in conservation days in Guernsey and Jersey to support local not-for-profit, Grow Jersey and charity Société Guernesiaise, with their efforts to protect and preserve the local biodiversity.
Grow Jersey are working towards creating the most inclusive community horticultural project in Jersey, through the transformation of agricultural land into an organic, sustainable and multi-crop location, tended by the community for the benefit of those who do not have readily access to sufficient nutritional food. The EY team in Jersey supported the Grow team with this project throughout the day for this project. In addition, they received valuable education on several important topics, including the impact of climate emergency, regenerative agriculture, the critical decline of pollinators, responsible soil management, sustainable transport within our local community, and practical ways in which we can all make small changes that lead to a bigger impact.
Sheena Brockie, co-founder of Grow Jersey, said: “It has been a delight to join the hard-working EY team in the Grow field. Sometimes it can be simple to overlook the small changes we can all make, that have a huge, wider impact. It was great to have the chance to have those conversations, whilst working the land and tending to the fruit trees and vegetables, which will be used to support our wider community.”
The EY team in Guernsey supported Société Guernesiaise with undertaking a seashore survey project. The project’s purpose was to assess and record the population of various sea life, monitor non-native species and observe the condition of Guernsey’s marine environment. The team also collected rubbish from the beach to help improve the coastal and ocean ecosystem.
Becky Ogier, Education and Conservation Leader at Société Guernesiaise, said: ”Le Société is extremely grateful to EY for donating volunteer hours to carry out a crab survey and beach clean. Crabs are an important marker of the health of the marine environment and by regularly surveying the population in certain areas we can monitor their health, breeding patterns and the distribution of the various species. Guernsey’s sea and shore is a huge part of island life, so beach cleans and shoreline surveys are a great way to benefit our community, as well as our environment.”
Supporting the work these projects are doing in the local community aligns with EY’s global corporate responsibility programme, EY Ripples, which sets out to positively impact the lives of 1 billion people by 2030, with one of core areas of focus being through accelerating environmental sustainability.
Mark Halliwell, an Assurance Director at EY in Jersey, took part in the Jersey volunteering day and concluded: “We are pleased to have been able to take a day out of the office as a team to support the great work that Grow Jersey are doing to create a more sustainable future for Jersey. It’s also been very insightful to hear how we can all play our part in protecting and preserving our local biodiversity, by taking small actions in our everyday lives to ensure we all play our part in creating a more sustainable future for generations to come.”
Ove Svejstrup, an Assurance Partner at EY in Guernsey, who took part in the Guernsey volunteering day, said: “Building a better working world and becoming more sustainable is at the forefront of everything we do as a firm. We’re delighted to have the opportunity to give back to our local community by supporting Société Guernesiaise with the vital work they are doing to preserve our local natural environment, and to ultimately help drive a more sustainable future across the island.”
