Eden Project Goes Global

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 said today: “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 need to green the desert of our mind, we need to fertilise our imagination and we need to believe that the future remains ours to make.”

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.

China: Eden Qingdao will explore the theme of water and its importance for life on earth. As with similar projects it will link with other Eden Project centres around the world, sharing content and programmes. This will be an Eden Project for China but with a global relevancy.

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. Education and training programmes will run from here, offering the chance for children and adults to play in natural environment.

Australia: Macquarie Point Development Corporation (MPDC) of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, approached Eden as the corporation is looking to regenerate an environmentally-damaged piece of land (15 hectares) around the port area. MPDC contacted Eden as they were seeking a flagship/anchor for the mixed-use development.

New Zealand: In Christchurch, Eden is working with a local trust to develop plans for a social enterprise and attraction in an area of the earthquake-damaged Red Zone. Here Eden will explore stories of nature and culture and will include restoration of native ecology along the iconic River Avon shoreline. There will be benefits for the community and tourism with the aim of boosting visitors to the city again.

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