Natural Environment Blog

Member countries of the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) have pledged more than $100 million to help stop deforestation and fight climate change.

The pledge came during the FCPF’s first annual general meeting which was held this week.

“It is heartening to know that despite the current financial situation, countries around the world understand that we cannot delay action on battling climate change,” said Mark Tercek, president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy, which serves on the FCPF panel. “Forest protection is one of the most cost-effective methods available to fight climate change. If we don’t take action now, climate change ultimately will have a much greater impact on the global economy and the natural resources we all depend upon for survival”.

Tercek also said “Right now, developing countries can generate more money from cutting down their forests than from keeping them standing,”

“The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility will bring developed and industrialized countries together — along with forest communities, indigenous groups, the private sector and civil society — to establish a financial value for the carbon stored in standing forests” he continued.

About the FCPF

The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) was first launched at the Bali Climate Meeting on December 11,  2007.

It was created because “forests are more important left standing than cut”. FCPF aims to reduce deforestation and forest degradation by compensating developing countries for carbon dioxide reductions realized by maintaining their forests.

FCPF members, which consist of government organizations from around the world, make up what is known as the “Participants Committee”. The member countries include Australia, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Guyana, Japan, Kenya, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Switzerland the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam.

Appointment of The Nature Conservancy

During this week’s meeting, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), which was a founding member of the FCPF, was also appointed to serve on the governing panel. This makes TNC the only non-governmental organization to serve on the panel.

TNC had also previously pledged $5 million dollars to FCPF at its launch during the Bali Climate Meeting.

Travel website TripAdvisor is going to give a million dollars to charity, and it’s asking it’s readers to vote for which charity gets the most money.

The “More Than Footprints” campaign involves 5 very worthwhile charities covering areas from environmental protection to emergency relief. All you need to do is vote for the charity that you’d like to see more money go towards.

The Charities

The five charity organizations are:

• Conservation International - Saving the places people love to visit
• Doctors Without Borders - Emergency relief 
• National Geographic - Exploring and sustaining authentic places 
• The Nature Conservancy - Environmental protection
• Save the Children - Aiding children around the world

TripAdvisor have stated that all charities will recieve a minimum donation of $50,000, but other than that, the million dollars will be “allocated evenly among the charities, as determined by the percentage of total votes that each charity receives during the promotion period”.

Voting closes on 9 November, 2008 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, U.S.  

Vote Now!

So, what’s stopping you? You can vote straight from this page, by using the voting box below:

In what has been described as “an astounding achievement for conservation”, two respected conservation organizations have partnered to purchase 1.7 million acres of desert in Australia.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Australia Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) purchased the Kalamurina Ranch, which is near the common boundaries of South Australia, Northern Territory, and Queensland states (near the center of Australia). 

The Kalamurina Ranch, which was previously a cattle ranch, will now be known as Kalamurina Wildlife Sanctuary. Despite being a former cattle ranch, most of the land is relatively undisturbed. This is due to the fact that the ranch was not heavily stocked with cattle. 

Prime Position

One of the significant things about this purchase is that, it links two other protected pieces of land - resulting in 19 million acres of contiguous protected land. The Simpson Desert Regional Reserve lies directly to the north, and the Lake Eyre National Park is directly to the south.  

But what the two organizations are really excited about, is that three of central Australia’s most important rivers converge on the property. The Macumbah River and Kallakoopah Creek converge with the Warburton River on Kalamurina before flowing into Lake Eyre - the largest lake in Australia.

“One glance at a map and it’s clear how important Kalamurina is,” says AWC Executive Director, Atticus Fleming. “In most parts of the world, a gap this large would look like too big a mountain to climb. But here, with just one acquisition, we were able to fill the gap.”

Endangered Species

This part of Australia has become a critical area for conservationalists. Most of the native animals are either endangered or extinct. This is because they are being eaten by non-native predators. Many of the native animals are small marsupials. Most of these animals have little chance against foxes - which were introduced by English settlers for recreational hunting.

And if non-native species aren’t killing the animals, they’re competing with them for food and water.

Michael Looker, director of The Nature Conservancy’s Australia program says, ”One of the most important things we can to do help nature survive and adapt to the impacts of climate change is to give plants and animals room to move and, especially here in the desert, access to water”.

More Work to be Done

The acquisition of the land is only the beginning. The land will now need to be restored and maintained to ensure a true sanctuary for the desert wildlife.

And, the partnership won’t stop with this acquisition. TNC and AWC plan to purchase more land to the north of the central desert. 

“We have a tremendous window of opportunity in central and northern Australia,” says AWC Executive Director Atticus Fleming. “This region is considered one of five last great wild places on Earth. Working together like this will enable us to move quickly, before that window closes”.

Rainforests are some of the world’s most ancient and complex ecosystems. They barely cover 2% of the Earth, yet more than half of all plant and animal species live there. 

Despite covering such as small part of the Earth, rainforests continue to be destroyed every day. At the current rate of deforestation, we will only have 20% of the world’s forests left by 2030.

Saving the world’s rainforests from deforestation is not a small task (just ask the UK government!). Many environmentally conscience individuals and organizations around the world are devising new ways to protect our valuable rainforests. 

Click to Save the Rainforests

One new way of protecting rainforests comes in the form of “The Rainforest Site”. The Rainforest Site is a website that allows us all to do our bit for the rainforests. By using this site, you can help keep rainforests around the world alive.

And the great thing is, it doesn’t cost you any money. Not a cent. 

All you need to do is click a button on The Rainforest Website. When you click that button, The Rainforest Website gets money from their sponsors. They then pass this money to charity organizations who help preserve the rainforests. 

According to The Rainforest Site, more than 150 million visitors have preserved more than 40,500 acres of land to date.

How Does it Work?

When you click on the button, the website displays advertising from their sponsors. These sponsors actually pay The Rainforest Site so that their advertising can appear.

100% of the sponsors’ money goes to their charity partners, who fund programs to protect and preserve rainforest habitat.

So it would follow that, the more popular the site is, the more likely sponsors will want to advertise (i.e. more people are seeing their ads). 

Who are the Charity Partners?

When you click, the following organizations get money (from the website’s sponsors). These organizations then use the money to protect the world’s rainforests:

• The Nature Conservancy
• Rainforest Conservation Fund
• World Land Trust-US
• Rainforest2Reef

These organizations protect and preserve rainforest habitat in countries such as Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, the United States, Canada, the Pacific, and more.

Cool, I Want to Help! How do I do it? 

To help save the rainforests:

1. Open The Rainforest Site
2. Click on the button entitled “Click Here to Give - it’s FREE!”
3. Repeat each day 

That’s all!

By repeating each day, you’ll ensure that money is finding it’s way to these important organizations who help protect the world’s rainforests.

To Help You Remember…

To help you remember, you could set The Rainforest Site as your “home page” when you open up the browser. Most browsers let you do this through their “Options” dialog box. 

For example:

• In Firefox, go to “Tools > Options“
• In Internet Explorer, go to “Tools > Internet Options“
• In Safari, it’s under “Edit > Preferences“

If you’re like me and you appreciate a good photo of the natural environment, and (unlike me) you really know how to take a good shot, then this may be for you.

Entries are open for the Nature Conservatory’s 2008 Photo Contest. In its third year, this is a competition that invites you to send in your stunning nature photos.

What are they looking for?

“…beautiful nature photography representing the diversity of life on Earth”

The winning photograph will be published in the 2010 Nature Conservatory calendar, which reaches almost 2 million households.

Entries close on 15 October.

So, if you’ve got what it takes, submit your photo via the Nature Conservatory’s Flickr page.