IKEA buys a forest in Georgia to restore trees and protect turtle species
From Noticias
BY María del Carmen Ramón
Ingka Group, the largest shareholder of furniture giant IKEA, expanded its total forestland holdings by acquiring 10,840 acres of forest near the Altamaha River Basin in southeastern Georgia, the U.S. Unlike other companies, with this acquisition Ingka seeks to sustainably manage the trees and protect the habitat of the gopher tortoise.
The forested land belonged to The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit that has long been acquiring large tracts of forestland. On each tract, it requires that trees be restored and native species be protected. The group then resells the acreage to other companies that agree to abide by those preservation policies. With the proceeds, The Conservation Fund buys more forest for protection.
Ingka agreed to the conditions imposed by The Conservation Fund, which ranged from restoring the pine forest to protecting the habitat of the gopher tortoise, a unique species native to the southeastern United States.
“We are honored to work with Ingka Group and applaud its dedication to preserve and enhance forest quality in the U.S. and Europe,” acknowledged Larry Selzer, president and CEO of The Conservation Fund. “Well-managed forests provide essential benefits, including clean water and important wildlife habitat, as well as mitigating climate change,” he added in a statement.
Ingka and its goal to be climate positive by 2030
The purchase of the forest in Georgia is part of Ingka’s strategy to absorb more carbon dioxide than it emits by 2030. According to an Ingka spokesperson, “no significant amount” of its U.S. forest holdings go towards IKEA furniture manufacturing.
Ingka operates 378 of the 445 IKEA stores worldwide. In February of this year, the company made it known that it had achieved a goal of ensuring that 98% of the wood it used came from recycled or U.S. Forest Stewardship Council-certified sources.
“We truly believe responsible forest management is possible and we see that a large part of our responsibility towards the land we own – and by extension the planet – is to restore forests and plant more than we harvest,” Ingka Investments Managing Director, Krister Mattsson, told CNN.
In this way, Ingka has increased its total forestland in the United States, where it now owns 136,000 acres, on properties in Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. It also has plots in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania.
