Conservation will again be coming to ISPO this winter as the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) prepares to raise awareness of its work and funds for its projects in 2015.
Not only has the association recently been joined by the likes of retail giant Amazon EU Sarl, it starts the year with a huge boost from the support of its first seven Sustaining Members, pledging to fund the sustainable growth of the organisation with an extra €10,000 per year for the next three years.
Adding to this, many of EOCA’s members have donated products to help the association raise vital funds during ISPO for its projects this coming year. Smartwool will again be hosting the ever-popular and innovative Smartwool sock vending machine – ensuring that everyone who donates €5 at the EOCA or Startwool stands will be able to select a toasty pair of Smartwool socks of their choice to keep them going during the four days of the show and well beyond. Many other members have donated items which will be available on the EOCA stand for the duration of the trade fair (or until they are all gone!), including gloves, footwear, headtorches and packs.
Saturday evening at 18.00 sees EOCA’s third annual Happy Hour to which all members, exhibitors and visitors are invited. Free beer, Glühwein and snacks are available, thanks to sponsorship by ISPO (Messe München). Both Goal Zero and Teko will be on hand with their Switch8 Rechargers and socks to help raise additional funds for conservation projects.
Joint General Manager Tanya Bascombe said,” ISPO is always an exciting time for us as an organisation. There is an air of expectancy at the beginning of the year and following the growth of EOCA in 2014, we are definitely looking forward to the opportunities that the next 12 months will bring for conservation!”
The seven EOCA Sustaining Members financing the running of the association on behalf of the industry are: OutDoor (Messe Friedrichshafen), Pertex, KEEN Footwear, Nikwax, ISPO (Messe München), Patagonia and the European Outdoor Group (EOG), which is also the Founder Member of the Association.
To find out more about the Association please go to: www.outdoorconservation.eu
The New Year has started with a huge vote of confidence for the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) thanks to the new membership of its first online retailer, Amazon EU Sarl.
Looking for a way to give back to the environment, whilst also encouraging its customers to go out and explore, EOCA was approached by the retail giant at OutDoor last July. A Senior executive of Amazon EU Sarl said, “Amazon offers its customers the broadest selection of sports and outdoor products, giving enthusiasts the tools and kit they require for their outdoor passions. As part of the industry, it was only natural for us to join the collaborative effort to put back into the environment our customers value so much”.
Tanya Bascombe, Joint General Manager of EOCA added, “We are thrilled that EOCA has been recognised in this way. Amazon is an extremely well known brand, used by many of our members as a platform to sell their products. Getting involved in the outdoor industry’s only conservation association shows that Amazon is taking its responsibilities to the longevity of this sector seriously and we look forward to working with them over the coming years”.
INFO: EOCA
Building on the massive growth of membership in 2013, 2014 has been another incredible year for the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA). Big strides have been made in what the European outdoor Industry has achieved in the name of conservation.
By the OutDoor show in July, OutDoor (Messe Friedrichshafen), Pertex, KEEN Footwear, Nikwax, ISPO (Messe München), Patagonia and the European Outdoor Group, which is also the Founder Member of the Association had pledged to become the first 7 Sustaining Members of EOCA, underlining their unwavering dedication to the protection of the environments the industry and its customers depend on. Their support of the background working of the Association will ensure that EOCA can build on its growth in a sustainable way, ensure that 100% of membership fees continue to go directly onto conservation projects and enable a second annual funding round to take place.
For the first time in the history of the Association, EOCA had enough money to stage a second funding round in September. This attracted a record number of applications, drew tens of thousands of votes from around the world for conservation projects, and brought the total number of consumers reached during both voting rounds this year to over 18 million, enabling a total of €280,885 to be spent on conservation projects.
Other notable achievements for the Association during 2014 include:
- 200,000 unique visits to the EOCA website in 2014
- 90,000 votes for projects on the website during the Spring and Autumn funding rounds
- Over 120 articles in trade and consumer press about EOCA over the year
- ‘EOCA Friends’ database quadrupled during March public vote
- 21 new members in 2014, including George Fisher, the first UK retailer
- 1 in 3 European Outdoor Summit attendees donated to EOCA, on top of their delegate fee
- First 3 EOCA films: one to attract new members, one to raise awareness amongst consumers and one about Sustaining Membership
And totals to date since the start of EOCA’s work:
- €1,540,664 spent on conservation since 2006
- 64 projects in 36 countries supported
- 468,946 trees planted
- over 220km of trails restored and maintained
- nearly 30,000 hectares of wilderness permanently protected
- over 100 tonnes of litter removed from mountains and waterways
Tanya Bascombe and Catherine Savidge, Joint General Managers of the Association are thrilled, “Things have continued to work really well for EOCA this year. It has been an absolute pleasure to be able to award more money to conservation this year. The awareness within the industry, and amongst consumers is most obviously increasing, and conservation organisations are spreading the word as well. The Association has continued to grow in size and we are thrilled that we already have an exciting new member announcement ready for the beginning of 2015!!”
INFO: EOCA
Dear EOCA Friends,
Well the first ever autumn vote closed last night at midnight. Many thanks to everyone who got involved. In total EOCA received 36,100 votes to choose which of the shortlisted projects will receive funding.
This is how each of the categories fared:
- Nature – total votes 19,735
Bamboo Domestication 7%
Bins for Beaches 5%
Sangai Deer 17%
Tiger Habitat 9%
Angel Sharks 20%
Manta Rays 19%
Gangetic Dolphins 24%
- Outdoor – total votes 7686
Glen Affric 55%
Lake Bosomtwe 8%
Mangrove Conservation 24%
Marine Litter 7%
Projecte Rius 3%
Skagerack Sea 1%
Kamchia 1%
- Alpine – total votes 8689
Rwanda Chimpanzees 12%
Red Panda Nepal 31%
Mountain Forests 7%
Red Panda Darjeeling 4%
Roaches Footpaths 34%
Wildfjords 13%
The winning projects which will receive EOCA funding are:
- Glen Affric Forest Landscape Project , Scotland
- Restoration of important habitats for the Gangetic Dolpin, India
- Restoring Roaches Footpaths, England
Well done to the 3 winners! It has been an immensely exciting 2 weeks, and EOCA would like to thanks indeed to everyone who voted during this round.
Dear EOCA friends, after the first update, it has been a very exciting weekend with another 3,000 votes cast over the 3 categories, bringing the total to 14,535!
One week to go, so have a think about how else to rally your supporters – remember anyone with an email address can vote – be creative because everything can change in just a couple of hours!
Alpine Category – total 4483 votes
- Rwanda Chimpanzees – 11%
- Red Panda Nepal – 29%
- Mountain Forests – 10%
- Red Panda Darjeeling – 4%
- Roaches Footpaths – 39%
- Wildfjords – 7%
Above all – have fun – this is a great opportunity to help the environment!
What are you waiting for? Help EOCA, go on www.mountainBlog.it and vote now!
Dear All, Well here is the first update for the EOCA voting and we very please to tell you that it has got off to a great start across all the categories! We have had over 4,000 votes so far in the first 2 days!
- Rwanda Chimpanzees – 15%
- Red Panda Nepal – 26%
- Mountain Forest -15%
- Red Panda Darjeeling – 7%
- Roaches Footpaths – 31%
- Wildfjords – 7%
Obviously we are only a couple of days in to the voting, so please do not be disappointed by your result, if it seems low – and do not think that it is all over for those of you doing well – everything can change in just a couple of hours, especially at this stage!
Make sure you are contacting all your members / customers / colleagues / local press / anyone you can think of that can be encouraged to join in and vote. Contact your nominating EOCA member and see if there is something you can do jointly – at least make sure you know when each other is going to put out some news so you can forward / share / retweet it etc!
Well done to all of you so far – we will send out a further update at the weekend.
You didn’t vote yet? Click here and cast your vote!
