Airbus employees from Toulouse participate in biodiversity project in India

Airbus Corporate Foundation has launched an innovative programme for biodiversity conservation in partnership with youth and education charity Raleigh, the Indian government, the UN's development programme and several non governmental organisations.

As part of the first leg of the programme, five employees from Airbus in Toulouse went on a three week expedition to India.

The Toulouse employees were part of a group of 16 volunteers from France, Germany, Spain, UK, USA and India, from among 500 candidates, who were selected to build bio-gas units for the Kudimery village located in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Toulouse employees Helen Wilson, Thierry Bourret, Thomas Moody, Sophie Raynal and Magali Favede participated in building three biogas units, which will contribute to improving the community's social and economic welfare, protect local forests and reduce the output of greenhouse gas emissions.

Wilson, from the Airbus operations SAS legal department in Saint-Martin du Touch, said, ''This experience gave us a unique opportunity to get directly involved in lasting protection of the extremely rich biodiversity in this region of India, and enabled us to establish unforgettable contact with the children and adults of Kudimery village.

''Building these three units will not only slow down the deforestation but will also help elephants and other animals living in the forests in this region to continue living in their natural setting.''