Rogers Group has been awarded the prestigious "Fonds Business-Biodiversité Océan Indien" grant from the Varuna Programme, implemented by Expertise France and financed by AFD – Agence Française de Développement.
The Varuna Programme aims to contribute to halting biodiversity loss in the South-West Indian Ocean islands, for the benefit of the inhabitants of the region, through awareness-raising, capacity-building and the pooling of efforts of all public, private and civil society stakeholders.
The candidate companies were assessed for their ability to propose economically viable, exemplary and replicable projects at a regional scale. The selection of Rogers Group’s proposal reflects our strong alignment with these key criteria and our commitment to sustainability and biodiversity restoration.
Further integrating biodiversity into our corporate strategy
Rogers’ programme spans two years and seeks to integrate biodiversity into the group's strategy through four main projects:
1. Awareness: At a regional level across all Rogers Group entities in the Indian Ocean, the teams will be engaged as agents of change through biodiversity and ocean collages , and interactive workshops. The goal is to raise biodiversity awareness among over 300 employees and encourage their personal involvement. Workshops will also be organised for the public.
2. Expertise and studies: We will engage with experts to make biodiversity a core pillar of our strategic decisions through comprehensive studies and new methodologies, such as our biodiversity footprint, to assess our dependence and impact on biodiversity.
3. Multi-stakeholder dialogue space: We will establish a multi-stakeholder dialogue space, bringing together community, government, NGOs, businesses and experts to co-create solutions for biodiversity challenges and promote sustainable practices.
4. Technical projects in Bel Ombre: Specific activities will be implemented for the restoration of biodiversity in Bel Ombre. They will serve as models for sustainable impact on local ecosystem restoration, particularly with our two partners, the Mauritius Chamber of Agriculture and the NGO, Reef Conservation.
Shaping a better future
As we embark on this project, the group reaffirms its commitment to sustainable development within the Indian Ocean region. By integrating biodiversity considerations into our corporate strategy, we are not just complying with international environmental standards; we are actively shaping a better future for our community and for the planet. We are excited about the potential of our projects to set benchmarks in biodiversity regeneration and are committed to sharing our learnings and successes on this transformative path.