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Rainforest and wild areas are being destroyed at a colossal rate.
Projects exist where you can "buy an acre of rainforest".
Half an acre an cost between £50 and £100 according to place.. This is a splendid opportunity to join with others to protect a part of our planet for future generations - See Cool Earth and World Land Trust below
Hopeful projects
It is also important to encourage and support the local people to maintain the forest sustainably - See A Rocha Ghana and A Rocha Forests below - (this is also a Christian charity.)
Please let us know if your church (or other group) has raised enough money to "buy" an acre
One example of a church group raising money for habitat protection is St John's Methodist Church Settle -
They are supporting the charities:
and A Rocha - Forests
is a unique organisation that works with the world's biggest names in business and the world's biggest eco-resources to arrest global warming.
Rainforests are made of living carbon - more than 260 tonnes are locked away in each acre. Destroying them releases more climate warming CO 2 each year than the entire USA.
is a charity that protects endangered rainforest. This combats global warming, protects ecosystems and provides sustainable jobs for local people. |
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- Conservation Organisation - Rainforest conservation that works
The World Land Trust (WLT) is an international conservation organisation that takes direct action to save rainforest and other biologically important lands - we buy it, acre by acre. The wilderness areas we buy are protected indefinitely as private reserves owned and managed by local organisations for the benefit of both wildlife and people. |
Philip Clarkson Webb, author/compiler of CEL's prayer guide writes:
Are these two organisations doing essentially the same job? As a supporter of both from their foundation, I'm convinced they both fulfil a vital role.
WLT (Patron Sir David Attenborough) has a mission statement which includes: "To protect & manage natural ecosystems and conserve their biodiversity, with emphasis on threatened habitats and endangered species." "Conservation Value is the most important aspect of WLT projects . . The possible effects of climate change must also be considered."
Cool Earth (Vice-Chairman Sir David Attenborough) was created "to price deforestation out of the market." "The forests that CE protects are at the frontier of development and most at risk. Most existing reserves are at limited risk of destruction by loggers or farmers. CE focuses on the edges of the forests, where access roads and logging put the trees at greatest risk."
WLT does not own or manage land, but works with local partners. Cool Earth gives the freehold to a local trust and takes a 10-year lease, after which the local trust takes it over to manage it in perpetuity. WLT has protected over 350,000 acres since 1989. Cool Earth has protected almost 30,000 acres in the 4 months since it was launched.
A third option: for a project run by Christians.
(A Project in Ghana)
and A Rocha Forests (An umbrella fundraising scheme to support Arocha projects in Ghana, Kenya, Peru and India)
The project in Ghana has Christian Leaders. Mole National Park is Savanah forest rather than Tropical rainforest, and the project does not claim that £100 will buy or protect an acre... but read what the website says: ..
Situated within the savannah zone of northern Ghana, the Mole National Park is the largest and best known of Ghana's national parks. It consists of 4840 sq km of open savannah, woodland, forests and swamps and is rich in fauna, with 304 bird, 93 mammal, 33 reptile and 9 amphibian species having been recorded.
The Mole National Park is also under considerable threat. It is bordered by 27 communities which have high poverty levels and few sources of income. The park is affected by hunters and foragers so that its habitats are becoming degraded and its wildlife threatened. Conservation of the park can only be achieved through improving the livelihoods of these village communities through sustainable natural resource utilisation. It has been shown elsewhere in West Africa that improvement in livelihoods, if linked effectively to the forest ecosystem, can provide an incentive for sustainable environmental practices.
A Rocha Ghana is working with the Wildlife Division of the government and representatives from two of these neighbouring communities to create a Community Resource Management Area (CREMA). Read more...........
Please visit http://rainforest-save.blogspot.com and contribute to one of these projects
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