The Eden Project announced that it is launching a new company to drive the establishment of Edens around the world. Eden Project International Ltd (EPIL) is a new entity formed as part of the Eden Trust to partner with like-minded organisations to deliver the Eden mission and to deliver social and ecological benefits during a time of global environmental decline and social disruption.
The new projects will focus on the big global challenges as defined by their specific localities (e.g. soil, water, food, biodiversity) and will work in collaboration with a wide variety of organisations, companies, communities, research and conservation groups. The ambition of the new wing of the Eden Project is to advance the Eden mission by establishing collaborative Eden projects with international partners across the globe. It will also undertake consultancy services for new and existing projects in a range of areas.
Sir Tim, Co-Founder of the Eden Project, said: “Eden’s mission is to explore our dependence on the natural world, to use that understanding to excite people into delivering transformation where they live and to ask really serious questions about what a great future might look like for all of us. We want the new Edens to act as a heartbeat for those who feel the same way as we do and to develop in all of them the ability to tell the stories that inspire the people who are their constituency.”
Eden Qingdao will explore the theme of water and its importance for life on earth. The project is still on the drawing board, with construction due to begin later this year. The second major project in China is in the historic city of Yan’an, famed for being the end of Chairman Mao’s Long March and north of the Xian, home of the terracotta warriors. The project will showcase ecological restoration as a vital tool for the future and restore a degraded site just outside the city into a fertile valley full of flowers, agriculture, craft and education.
The third Eden project in China is based at Sheng Lu Vineyard in Beijing. The aim is to create a place to reconnect with nature. The new international team will also be responsible for delivering a number of projects in the UK. Eden is working on the China, Australia and New Zealand projects with Grimshaw Architects, who designed the world-famous Rainforest and Mediterranean Biomes at the Eden Project. Source and images Courtesy of Eden Project.