PRESS RELEASE / TORONTO, ONTARIO / AUGUST 14, 2020 / ALUS Canada Builds New Acre Platform with $340,500 from RBC Foundation
ALUS Canada, A Weston Family Initiative, is thrilled with the multi-year support of $340,500 by RBC Foundation. This funding has allowed ALUS to enhance the digital land-inventory platform used by 27 ALUS communities in six provinces, while supporting efforts to restore nature on the working landscape across Canada.
“We thank the RBC Foundation for their support, which has enabled us to create the robust digital architecture needed to document ALUS’ production of ecosystem services on the ground, cleaner water, more wildlife habitat and to combat climate change,” said ALUS Canada’s CEO, Bryan Gilvesy.
ALUS Canada’s CEO Bryan Gilvesy, and his wife Cathy Gilvesy, on an ALUS project in Ontario whose data will feed into the New Acre™ Platform. This new, cloud-based tool is supported by a donation of $340K by the RBC Foundation, to help Canadian communities understand how ALUS projects contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal for Climate-Change Action (SDG #13). Photo: Jeff Helsdon
With the $340,500 donation through RBC Tech for Nature, ALUS Canada has been able to leverage enhanced technology to capture field data from its local nature-restoration and -enhancement projects. This data will help demonstrate the environmental benefits of all ALUS projects.
“At RBC, we believe in the power of innovative technologies to address and scale solutions to some of the most pressing environmental issues of our time,” said Valerie Chort, Vice-President, Corporate Citizenship, RBC. “We’re proud to be working alongside ALUS Canada to develop real-world, scalable solutions to tackle the challenges that continue to plague our environment.”
Known as the New Acre™ Platform, this cutting-edge data-management system will enable ALUS communities to access a national inventory of nature- restoration projects on mobile devices, and transfer data to the cloud.
Migrating the system to the cloud and enabling mobile data capture will significantly enhance the speed and quality of information gathered, which can be used to support governments, organizations and businesses that wish to sponsor nature-based solutions to contribute to climate resilience, water stewardship and biodiversity support through the New Acre™ Project.
With support from the RBC Foundation, ALUS Canada’s 27 participating communities will now be able to monitor environmental project sites.
The new Platform integrates data from ALUS Canada’s 27 communities, who are actively managing more than 27,000 acres of wetlands, trees, grasslands and modified agricultural practices on parcels of uneconomic, marginal or ecologically sensitive farmland across Canada.
In this way, the RBC Foundation helps support more than 900 farmers and ranchers who, through their work, are contributing to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal for Climate-Change Action (SDG number 13), with the goal of improving climate resiliency across Canada.
ALUS Canada has also developed a new web portal which allows organizations and businesses with an interest in supporting nature-based solutions to explore the many benefits of New Acre Project, ALUS Canada’s corporate sponsorship program.
The RBC Foundation donated $340,500 to launch a new cloud-based technology demonstrating the environmental benefits of ALUS’ nature-restoration projects, with the goal of improving climate resiliency for Canadian communities.
ABOUT ALUS CANADA
ALUS Canada, A Weston Family Initiative, is a national program helping farmers and ranchers produce cleaner air, cleaner water, more biodiversity and other ecosystem services in their communities. Through the New Acre™ Project, ALUS Canada empowers caring Canadian corporations to produce lasting benefits for the regions and communities they serve. ALUS Canada has disbursed more than $10M in funding to 27 ALUS communities, an investment that is multiplied by farmers, ranchers and communities on the ground. There are now more than 27,000 acres enrolled in the ALUS program, thanks to 900 participants in six provinces. For more information, visit ALUS.ca.
ABOUT RBC TECH FOR NATURE
To learn more about RBC Tech for Nature, visit: RBC.com/techfornature
CONTACT:
Katherine Balpataky, Director of Corporate Partnerships and Business Development, ALUS Canada— 519-222-1178 [email protected]
Bridget Wayland, Director of Communications, ALUS Canada— 514-770-3001 [email protected]
