Svoboda & Williams invested 1,100,000 crowns to purchase shares in Refugium, launching a long-term cooperation journey with this company focusing on supporting biodiversity in the Czech countryside and renewing damaged ecosystems. Part of the investment was immediately used for the revitalization of an extremely important wetland in Czech Canada.
Refugium looks for locations that function as hotspots of species diversity and/or have the potential to become such a site with the adequate care. Refugium purchases land for its portfolio and, when necessary, subsequently oversees revitalization projects and long-term nature management. For sites that don’t require major interventions, the company builds on its existing care.
Refugium’s activities are a response to the Europe-wide trend of not just protecting what is left of nature, but renewing locations with damaged ecosystems, as they provide humankind with valuable ecosystem services such as water retention in the landscape, climate regulation, or carbon sequestration. Moreover, healthy ecosystems can better adapt to environmental changes, including climate change.
“Svoboda & Williams has been helping the Homo sapiens species find a home for 20 years. By working with Refugium, we’ve expanded our activities to include the creation of refuges for other, often endangered species that have a hard time finding a place to live in today’s environment,“ says Prokop Svoboda, owner of Svoboda & Williams.
Refugium’s current portfolio consists of 10 locations throughout the Czech Republic. Financial support from Svoboda & Williams will go a long way to help the wetland restoration project in Maříž near Slavonice. “This is Refugium’s flagship project and the first reference of our future intentions. In the past, humans have negatively impacted this historically valuable natural site and we want to remedy this through the sophisticated restoration of damaged habitats, awakening the potential of this beautiful place,” states Filip Lysák, Refugium’s chief ecologist.
The total cost of the project, which in addition to the revitalization work also includes a series of biological surveys, monitoring of the area, care of the site, and project management, is over 5.5 million crowns. The majority will be covered by subsidies from the Operational Programme Environment, while private investors contributed 1 million crowns by purchasing green credits.
Issuing green credits is a tool that Refugium offers to those with private capital, making it easier to get involved in the protection and restoration of the Czech environment. How the companies that buy the credits use them is entirely up to them. “During our Christmas campaign, we gifted our business partners with 700 credits with a combined worth of 700,000 crowns,” concludes Svoboda. “I’m gratified that our activities have generated a positive response.”
