Different means good

By identifying protection of biodiversity as one of our five most important environmental aspects in our Environmental Management Policy, we have automatically committed ourselves to making efforts to support it.
In Emitel, we are involved in biodiversity conservation on many levels, including protecting Nature 2000 areas during the investment process, limiting factors influencing climate change (greenhouse gases, fossil fuels) or education. We have also been actively involved in the Eurasian curlew protection programme. In the coming months, we are planning further measures to protect biodiversity.

What is biodiversity in general?
Biodiversity is the diversity of life on Earth, the total variability of life at all levels of its organisation.
Biodiversity can be considered at three levels:

  • intra-species level (genetic, population level), e.g. diversity of specimens of an Eurasian curlew in a given population, diversity between populations within a single orchid species, diversity of apple trees varieties in a region, etc.
  • species level – this is the diversity of species living on Earth: diversity of species of beetles, mites, basidimycota, orchids, canidae, etc.
  • ecosystem level – it is the diversity at the level of whole ecosystems, e.g. diversity of riparian forests, wetland meadows, lakes, high mountain grasslands, desert or cave ecosystems, etc.

Why is diversity in nature so important?
Biodiversity makes it easier to survive environmental changes. The organisms that survive such changes will pass on the appropriate features to their successors, creating a new, diversified ecosystem. Evolution continues to develop new features of species and gene combinations that will allow them to survive in adverse conditions.

What is the greatest threat to biodiversity?
In Poland, as many as 592 animal species are under strict protection due to the threat of extinction. The following factors are the most serious threat to biodiversity:

  1. Destruction by man of the places where plants and animals live. These changes result in a lack of access to food or shelter.
  2. Climate change, the rate at which it occurs and changes in living conditions for many species. It is estimated that the increase of global temperature of the Earth by 1°C will result in the extinction of at least 10% of the species currently living on our planet.
  3. Introduction of species and varieties coming from other geographical regions – this results in displacement of native species (introduction).

How can we contribute to the protection of biodiversity?
Taking care of the environment will suffice. We can save its resources, manage them rationally (e.g. saving electricity at home, reducing the amount of waste) and reduce emissions to the atmosphere. We can use public transport.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that already in 1994 the UN established the International Day of Biodiversity, which is currently celebrated on the 22nd of May.