This year, WWF is celebrating 50 years of environmental conservation and the extraordinary achievement of helping protect, conserve and sustainably manage 100 million hectares in Canada. As an industry leader which originally teamed up with WWF to help pioneer conservation as a prerequisite to industrial development, Tembec was pleased to sponsor the May 12 event "Toasting a Generation of Conservation".
Passionate and dedicated philanthropic individuals and organizations, visionary decision makers, industry representatives, as well as prominent donors and supporters gathered to recognize the formidable work that has been done at WWF over the past 20 years to help protect, conserve and sustainably manage more than 100 million hectares of land. Looking to the ambitious challenges ahead, President and CEO of WWF, Gerald Butts, stated, "We want to achieve with oceans and fresh water what we were able to achieve with forestry. Our focus remains on life and living."
During the gathering at Evergreen Brickworks in Toronto, Tembec President and Chief Executive Officer James Lopez paid tribute to Canadian forestry workers. "I would like to give special thanks to all the forestry workers. They are the ones who, day after day, take care of protecting our forests. I commend them for the very important role they play in sustainable management in our industry," said Mr. Lopez.