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Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network

WFEN Welcomes Global Beauty Brand Aveda as Founding Corporate Member

Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens)

Aveda Becomes the First Global Beauty Brand to Join the Wildlife Friendly® Enterprise Ntwork Supporting People and Planet

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK – 18 DEC 2015 – Aveda, whose mission is to care for the world we live in, and the Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network (WFEN), a global community dedicated to supporting products that conserve threatened wildlife and contribute to economic vitality in rural landscapes, are pleased to announce an exciting new partnership dedicated to protecting wildlife while supporting local communities.

Beginning in 2002, Aveda has sourced handcrafted lokta bark paper from Himalayan Bio-Trade Pvt. Ltd (HBTL), an organization in Nepal, owned by a consortium of community-based groups, for their holiday and year-round gifting boxes. Aveda’s purchase of lokta paper from Nepal helps support this local industry, which creates local employment to help keep families together. It also helps reverse local deforestation in the region — in 2009, the lokta paper earned Wildlife Friendly® certification which helps to protect 42,000 acres of forest, maintaining critical wildlife corridors for 21 iconic endangered species, including the grey wolf, snow leopard, red panda and wild yak.

“Fueled by a common passion for protecting wildlife, our partnership with Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network is an example of Aveda’s efforts to make a meaningful commitment to action in service to the Earth,” says Dominique Conseil, President, Aveda. “A sustainable Earth demands that we care deeply about our collective future. For Aveda, we are proud to be a member of WFEN and support the protection of wildlife habitat.”

“The Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network (WFEN) knows that consumers care about protecting endangered species and providing sustainable livelihoods for communities that co-exist with wildlife. We are therefore thrilled to welcome Aveda as the first global beauty brand to become a WFEN Founding Corporate Member. Aveda has been a true industry leader in responsible ingredient sourcing that helps support local communities. Aveda’s sourcing of Wildlife Friendly® certified products is a model for the beauty industry” said Ann Koontz, WFEN co-founder and Vice President of the Board of Directors.

WFEN Founding Corporate Network Members share the WFEN vision for a world where people and wildlife not only coexist but thrive and are committed to sourcing and creating beautiful products that are made in a manner that respect the producers, land, and wildlife. WFEN membership is open to businesses who are committed to the WFEN mission and who actively contribute to Wildlife Friendly® business practices. This contribution may be through building Wildlife Friendly® supply chains, production, sourcing and selling Certified Wildlife Friendly® products, building increased awareness and demand with consumers, and implementing best practices for biodiversity conservation and business.

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About Aveda

Founded in 1978 in Minneapolis, MN, Aveda creates high performance, plant-based products for beauty professionals and consumers. Aveda innovates in botanical technologies, combining the principles of modern science and Ayurveda, the ancient healing art of India, to develop performance-driven hair, skin and body products—made with pure flower and plant essences—that are created with respect for the Earth, and a comprehensive menu of ritual-based treatments for holistic beauty.

Throughout the years, Aveda has pioneered new benchmarks of environmental responsibility in beauty.  It was the first company to sign the Ceres Principles in 1989 – a nonprofit organization mobilizing business leadership on climate change, water scarcity and other sustainability challenges – and the first beauty company to manufacture with 100 percent wind power in its primary facility[1]. Aveda was also the first beauty company to receive a Cradle To Cradle charter for its commitment to sustainable products, packaging and production. In 2013, Aveda was honored with the first Legacy Leaders Award from Cradle to Cradle for its pioneering role in environmental leadership. Currently 11 products are Cradle To Cradle Certified™.  Since 1999, Aveda’s annual Earth Month campaign, held each April, has raised more than $44 million to support environmental projects around the world.

Aveda is trusted by salon and spa professionals worldwide. Since 2007, more than half of the fastest growing salons in the U.S. have been part of the Aveda network[2]. Aveda products are available in Aveda Experience Centers and more than 9,000 professional hair salons and spas in more than 30 countries and at www.aveda.com. Go behind-the-scenes at Aveda on the blog at www.livingaveda.com. 

About Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network

WFEN and its Certified Wildlife Friendly® and Predator Friendly® certification programs represent grassroots farmers, ranchers, artisans, indigenous communities and conservation heroes from around the world including two World Bank Development Marketplace Award winners, a U.N. Equator Prize winner, leadership in the world’s marketplace for REDD+ Carbon Offsets, a Time Hero for the Planet, and a National Geographic Big Cats Initiative grantee. Certified Wildlife Friendly® products contribute to the conservation of over twelve million hectares of diverse wetlands, forests, and grasslands; protect keystone endangered species in Asia, Africa, and Latin and North America, including the Snow Leopard, Elephant, Cheetah, Spectacled Bear, and Wolf; and benefit over 200,000 people through increased food security, income and employment. For more information visit: www.wildlifefriendly.org

Contact:  

Wildlife Friendly

Julie Stein: Julie@wildlifefriendly.org

Aveda Global Communications

Amy Maloney: amaloney@aveda.com

 

[1] The wind power goes into the utility grid from which we purchase electrical power and our use of natural gas power is offset with wind energy credits. For more, go to aveda.com.

[2] 2013 Salon Today 200 – Honoring Salon Growth and Best Business Practices

 

 

Certified Wildlife Friendly™ is proud to be featured again in AVEDA’s holiday gift line. AVEDA is committed to creating a better and independent future for the communities they work with and the environments they steward.  2012 marks AVEDA’s fifth year of buying beautiful handmade lokta bark paper from Nepal for its holiday gift sets, and its third year of sourcing paper that is  Certified Wildlife Friendly™.  This partnership has employed over 4900 people — 90% of them women — and has protected 34,000 acres of forest which provides habitat for endangered species as well as fighting climate change.   To learn more about this unique partnership watch this video “Himalayan Joy:  Improving Lives with Paper.”