Creating a sustainable future

Pre-School education, Papua New Guinea

Pre-school education is not formalized in Papua New Guinea and left to private initiatives, although that might change in the future. We run two community centers for our employees and families and two playschools for the employees’ children aged three to six years.

The schools are free of charge and the initiative is managed by four teachers, who are trained and certified for early child development. The playschool curriculum follows an early childhood learning approach, and the teaching method follows the concept of Light Education Ministries Phonics.

We have an early learning class for children ages three to six years and reading readiness classes for children aged five to six years. All learning is in English.
The school runs from February through November, and graduation is in December.

In 2020, the class reached a maximum capacity of 40 students, who were spaced out in line with the most recent COVID-19 requirements and all 40 completed the year with 7 graduating and moving to grade 1 in 2021. The company will support children graduating the first grade by covering tuition, uniforms and school supplies costs. In 2019 we had 42 students enrolled, of which 36 completed the year.

Adult literacy program, Papua New Guinea

An adult literacy program started in 2019 as a pilot project and we were the first business to participate in such an initiative. Classes are offered to co-workers that can speak English, but not read or write. The program comprises 12 weeks with two two-hour classes a week. The participants learn reading, writing, math, and practical knowledge (filling out a deposit slip, using an ATM, etc.). The course is available for 20 people from each compound. The teaching concept is quite intense, giving a chance to young students to attend their lessons in the morning while their mothers and fathers attend later during the day and evening.

In 2020, we were forced to put the Adult Literacy Program on hold due to COVID-19 restrictions with lockdowns and schools closing. In order to continue our support of the education initiative in Papua New Guinea, even in this challenging pandemic year full of varying restrictions, the company purchased more than 300 new books and opened small libraries in each of our compound-based schools in Kokopo, PNG.

Water, food, and housing in Papua New Guinea

The company provides housing for employees and constantly works on improving living standards for people in neighboring communities. Securing water, food and housing for the employees and improving living standards of the contractors and partners is a constant focus of 3ACM. We regularly collect feedback with regard to living standards from our employees and report on the action plan and further improvements.

Infrastructure projects In Ecuador

3ACM participated along with the local authorities in repairing a 15 km stretch of an access road in Cotopaxi, province of Ecuador. This project enabled local farmers to transport products to the large markets in the vicinity, thereby ensuring an income and welfare for their families.

In 2020, we planted balsa trees in the public areas of Quevedo, Ecuador as part of company’s plan to create a more sustainable and greener future. In addition to that, 3ACM donated several bus stops to the city of Quevedo, Ecuador. Once in place, the city will house architectural pieces made from our materials.

3A Avenue in China and other programs for elderly

3ACM financed the construction of a road for a nursing home with more than 600 elderly people in China. The road connected the living and canteen areas, giving disabled people and wheelchair-users additional independence and flexibility. In order to thank the support of 3ACM, the nursing home decided to name this road after our company’s name.

The company sponsors on a very regular basis different social initiatives and projects. One of the recent initiatives in Asia is a professional nursing training program for the care of elderly people that gained particular importance during this pandemic year.

Ecuador - Conservation Value Attribute Project, 2019

Within the FSC®-Certification context, an FMU, or part of it, can be declared as a Conservation Value Attribute (CVA), if it guarantees the preservation of values, goods, and services that determine or influence the life of a community or an ethnic group. In this regard, three of our balsa farms in Ecuador contain elements that have been identified as archaeological and cultural values attributed to the Milagro- Quevedo Culture, which constitutes one of the pre-Columbian cultures of Ecuador withthe most significant territorial extension. This culture was located in the entire river system of the Guayas, including its two great rivers Daule and Babahoyo, and all their tributaries. One of the characteristic features of this culture is the tolas or artificial mounds that have been found both in groups and in isolation. It has been determined that different types of tolas exist according to their purpose: agricultural, funerary, ceremonial, and residential. The registered structures constitute a group of 11 tolas, although it is likely that there were much more of them. 3ACM fully recognizes its responsibility and its mission to preserve these tolas, as well as further develop a sustainability mindset.

Papua New Guinea - High Conservation Value Assessment Project, 2019

An HCV analysis was carried out in cooperation with the PNG University of Natural Resources and Environment during 2019/2020. It presents findings and recommendations of the HCV assessment on six selected balsa plantations in East New Britain, including owned and managed balsa forest, small holder plantation blocks, and buffer areas. The evaluation demonstrates the commitment to the standards of FSC®. Biological diversity was proven in all plantations and buffer zones and a significant number of plant species within plantation buffers. All sites are shown to have rich avifauna diversity (Singing Sterling, Eclectus Parrot, Meyer’s Friarbird, etc.) as well as insects (moths and butterflies, beetles, cricket, dragonflies and damselflies, etc.), mammals (various bats) and endemic species (frogs, snakes, etc.). Based on this research, we take actions to ensure the values found are maintained and further enhanced. On the social/cultural side, this includes the continuous support of local community needs (i.e., minimizing the use of buffer zones for harmful activities, such as hunting, fires, and clearing; or monitoring of illegal harvesting within protected buffer zones). In contrast, on the ecological side, it covers water catchment (i.e., periodic water quality monitoring of priority sensitive streams and creeks) or erosion control (i.e., maintaining buffer zones on all rivers). In terms of the the biological aspects, actions taken ‘are preserving endemic species (i.e., raising awareness amongst staff and local communities) or protect places of critical temporal use (i.e., nesting trees in buffer zones close to the plantation blocks).