Protection Forest

This long-term voluntary commitment to protection forests is part of the environment-related corporate responsibility activities of Helvetia Group.

The topic of mountain forests is a matter that is particularly close to our hearts, as five of the six Helvetia country markets are Alpine nations (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and Italy). And Spain is also home to steep protection forest areas in the Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges.

The protection forest initiative

Helvetia, as an insurer, supports the (re-)planting and preservation of these protection forests with the protection forest initiative. In doing so, we place an emphasis on prevention, the implementation of measures where damage occurs and the subsequent rectification of this damage. To date, 42 protection forest projects have been made possible, with financing provided for the planting of over 430,000 trees. Over the years, successful and strong partnerships have developed from this cooperation.

A number of conditions are applied to the protection forest projects. The projects:

• should each include 10,000 trees or more.
• must be carefully prepared, with the forestry needs and requirements being clarified.
  
• start with the initial planting of a few trees; the entire planting process can extend over several years.