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    • Conservation Book 2011
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Conservation

For instance, deforestation contributes nearly 20 percent of the overall greenhouse gas emissions. CEMEX is attentive to policy approaches such as REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), which provides incentives for reducing deforestation, promotes biodiversity conservation, and generates credits to offset CO2 emissions.

In addition to the responsible land management related to our extractive operations, we are engaged in several initiatives for the broader conservation of the environment. As part of these efforts, we have built relationships with leading global conservation organizations, universities, governments, and communities. These partnerships provide strategic guidance, improve our understanding of biodiversity issues, and help us better address them on a global and local level.

Two of our key initiatives in this area, our conservation book series and the El Carmen nature reserve, help raise awareness of and advance biodiversity conservation among a broad cross-section of stakeholders.

Conservation book series

This series, which we have published since 1993, is part of our commitment to promote among our stakeholders a culture of biodiversity awareness and conservation, as well as to raise awareness of the interconnected nature of biodiversity and climate change. We publish a new book each year that illustrates strategies and diverse approaches to foster the protection of our natural world and is complemented by powerful images from the world's best nature photographers. We have distributed these books through public and private sectors as well as universities, where they are used as a reference tool by experts in several fields. We have donated thousands of the books to conservation organizations to help them fund their projects.

In 2008, for example, we published A Climate for Life: Meeting the Global Challenge, which is at once a celebration of Earth's biodiversity and a call to action to preserve it. Ten chapters written by Conservation International scientists cover the most critical issues concerning biodiversity and climate change and cogently present solutions in chapters on renewable energies, biofuels, and increasing energy efficiencies. The book contains powerful images by some of the world's most recognized photographers.

El Carmen

Established in 2000, our El Carmen Initiative helps protect and conserve approximately 200,000 hectares of ecologically significant land along the border of the United States and Mexico.

Owned by CEMEX and other private landowners, El Carmen is home to more than 500 species of plants, 289 species of birds, 78 species of mammals, and 79 kinds of reptiles and amphibians. The initiative uses scientific research and proven habitat and wildlife management practices to restore and protect the landscape, native grasslands, and wildlife species. El Carmen staff also provide guidance on habitat and wildlife restoration to our partners and interested adjacent landowners. Solar and wind-power generator systems are used to provide renewable energy to the facilities at El Carmen.

Desert Bighorn Sheep Restoration Program

For more than 10 years CEMEX has been working to protect and recover the Desert Bighorn Sheep populations in Northeast Mexico. The return of this big-mammal species, extirpated from the region over 50 years ago became a reality in 2000, with the first transplant of sheep from Sonora to Coahuila. With the purpose of maximizing bighorn reproduction in the most natural conditions possible, CEMEX built a large breeding reserve (5,000 hectares) located near the Maderas Del Carmen Protected Area for Flora and Fauna in Coahuila, Mexico. Currently the reserve has a growing population of over 250 bighorns, allowing the first free ranging release from this facility in 2009, putting 30 bighorns back to their former range in El Carmen Mountains. In the near future more bighorns will be released in sites that meet their habitat requirements. Furthermore, CEMEX works in partnership with other private landowners, NGOs, government agencies, and universities in Mexico and United States to help ensure a bright future for the return of the desert bighorn sheep to their historic distribution range in North America.