(PR.co.nz) Leading company director and environmental champion Rob Fenwick has signed up with the Department of Conservation in a drive to encourage more businesses to invest in conservation.
More than four and a half thousand private businesses already operate on public conservation land. DOC is looking to work more closely with these and new business partners to help protect New Zealand’s unique landscapes and wildlife.
An environmental business leader and long-standing advocate of conservation values, Rob Fenwick has accepted a part-time position as DOC’s Commercial Relations Advisor.
Mr Fenwick will report directly to the Director-General of Conservation, Al Morrison, and will work to grow the value of private business support for conservation work. He will also help in the development of DOC’s Commercial Business Unit.
Al Morrison says DOC is extremely fortunate to attract a businessman of Mr Fenwick’s environmental vision and commercial expertise to such a strategic role.
“To conserve what is so special about New Zealand we need strong, committed partners – both in the community and in the commercial world.
“Rob has been a trail blazer for sustainable business in this country – he knows first hand that good environmental practice adds real value to the bottom line – and through his own experience he understands that business can be also be good for conservation.”
Mr Fenwick, whose business CV includes co-founding the successful Living Earth organic waste management chain and involvement in a new company looking to produce paper from construction waste, says he is excited by his work ahead with DOC.
“I am deeply committed to protecting New Zealand’s unique places and wildlife. Around the world we are seeing businesses becoming increasingly aware of their impact on the environment. While there’s a deepening sense of environmental accountability within the business sector, there’s also a realisation of the long-term value of investing in conservation, particularly in New Zealand. There has been no better time to be talking to commercial leaders than now.”
Biographical information
Rob Fenwick is an Auckland business leader and company director with a passionate interest in sustainable business practices. He is a co-founder of the successful organic waste management business, Living Earth, and a director of the Stone Paper Company which looks to produce paper from waste construction materials.
Rob is currently chairman of the Antarctica NZ, the NZ Waste Advisory Board and BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust. He is a trustee of the Air New Zealand Environmental Trust, a committee member of the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development and has also served as chairman of the national board of St John and deputy chairman of TVNZ. He has been closely involved in restoration and release of native birds in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf and is a patron of the NZ Native Plant Conservation Network.
He was made a Companion of New Zealand Order of Merit in 2008 for his services to conservation and has an honorary doctorate from Lincoln University in Natural Resources.
Media Release 10 June 2010 from Department of Conservation.