Supporting environmental education and sustainability through our partnership with the Nature Conservancy

April 2021 - At Cenovus, our environmental, social and governance priorities go beyond facility restoration.

For eight years, we have partnered with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), a non-profit organization that works to tackle projects to make a difference in biodiversity and ecosystem health. Since 1962, NCC and its partners have helped protect more than 14 million hectares of ecologically significant land across the country.

So far, our partnership with NCC has focused on conservation efforts in Newfoundland and Labrador through the Futures in Conservation program, one of 20 priority stewardship projects the NCC spearheads each year.  

“The Futures in Conservation Program provides post-secondary students with STEM-based internships focused on protecting high priority natural areas,” says Aimee Sheppard, Senior Industrial Benefits & Diversity Advisor with Cenovus. “It gives interns work experience in their desired field while contributing to science and promoting conservation in communities.”

Interns with the program are responsible for monitoring and surveying nature reserves through mapping and reporting tasks, helping organize biological inventories that create knowledge of local biodiversity on the lands they are working to conserve. Over the past 10 years NCC has employed and mentored more than 500 interns across the country.

“Training the next generation of environmental leaders is critical to our conservation efforts, now and into the future,” says Margo Morrison, Director of Conservation, NCC – Atlantic Region. “With partners like Cenovus, we can continue to develop environmental professionals, while maintaining and restoring natural environmental diversity.”