UK-based beauty brand The Body Shop has made a dramatic attempt to raise awareness of Bio-Bridges by installing five six-foot moss covered monkeys on London’s iconic Westminster Bridge, which represent a rare and endangered species, the Red Shanked Douc found in the Khe Nuoc Trong forest in North Central Vietnam.
The natural-inspired company created the installation to symbolize the ecological need to link habitats together and restore degenerated habitats. Indeed, by dominating the London landscape, the scheme is hoping to raise awareness of the need for Bio-Bridges, which is a new initiative by the company to help restore and protect endangered habitats around the world, with Khe Nuoc Trong the location of the first Bio-Bridges project.
According to a company statement, “The Body Shop’s new Bio-Bridges programme aims to regenerate 75 million square metres of forest and protect it from exploitation, poaching and unsustainable harvesting. Bio-Bridges regenerate and reconnect corridors between healthy rainforest, linking isolated and endangered animals and plant species, allowing them to again breed and thrive.”
Another part of the programme is said to be helping local communities to engage and help in the long term protection of the Bio-Bridge habitat by helping to provide a more sustainable way of life for the people who live in and around the surrounding areas.
The Body Shop customers will help through an in-store and online campaign ‘Help Reggie Find Love’, featuring Reggie, a Red-Shanked Douc from Vietnam. Every customer transaction will restore and protect one square metre of habitat in the forest.