HSBC marks World Environment Day in Buskett

HSBC Group is marking World Environment Day 2011 by asking thousands of employees across the globe to uncover the “hidden value” of their local forests.

The UN has declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests and this year’s World Environment Day, tomorrow, focuses on the valuable services provided by forests. HSBC is highlighting this to its employees through a global online competition and encouraging people to think about how their daily choices can contribute to the sustainable management and conservation of forests.

Employees in more than 40 countries will be taking part in direct action to help protect forests or woodland in their region. Conservation projects, tree planting, clearing of invasive species, film screenings, lectures, environmental fairs, photo competitions, no printing days, no car days and various paper saving initiatives are just a few of the activities planned.

In Malta, HSBC employees celebrated World Environment Day in Buskett on Wednesday. Buskett is the island’s only large woodland area, originally planted by the Knights as a hunting ground.

The area boasts vineyards; orange, olive and lemon groves; native trees, like the Mediterranean pines and carobs, wild flowers and natural springs. Home to several important species of plants and insects and other threatened sub-endemic species like the crescent orchid, the Buskett woodland is also an internationally important concentration point for migrating birds of prey. HSBC Malta staff enjoyed an appreciation field trail in Buskett led by Joseph Buhagiar, lecturer at the Department of Biology of the University of Malta and director of the Argotti Botanical Gardens.