Global Participation - A Revolution in Social Media

A Revolution in Social Media

The Replanting the Rainforests program represents a revolution in Social Media.  With a social media network of more than 500,000 environmentally conscious individuals across the globe the Eco Preservation Society has developed a social media platform to link active reforestation projects with Conservationists, Biologists, Students, Interns, Volunteers, Eco Travelers and Sponsors from around the world.  If you are interested in getting involved, please click here to see what you can do.

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BioChar & Soil Augmentation

 

Sequester Your Carbon Footprint

Biochar – soil enriching, carbon gobbling, lo-tech remedy to greenhouse emissions

Invented by our ancestors, deposits of Biochar enhanced soil, called Terra Preta, have been found in vast areas of the Amazon basin, Ecuador and Peru, as well as in parts of West Africa, the South African savanna and late Roman Britain. The Terra Preta in the Amazon, where it is most prevalent, was created by humans 2500 years ago, and it is still regenerating.

 

Sustainably Managed Permanent Rain Forest Habitats

Samboja Lestari

The Sustainably Managed Permanent Rainforest Habitat TM concept is a key differentiation point with other Tree Planting projects run by other organizations.

Because these programs do not have control of the lands where the trees are planted and in most cases the trees are planted in areas that have a history of deforestation.  Many programs take place on farmlands. Ask yourself: What do farmers do for a living? They plant things, they grow things, and they cut them down and sell them.

What we do is different.  Our projects mix a variety of technologies to create an economic engine to support the creation of these habitats.  These technologies include analog (sustainable) forestry, wildlife habitat enhancement, biomass carbon negative energy production, BioChar soil augmentation and edible forest gardens (Permaculture).

To get a better idea of how this works, watch this extraordinary video from Willie Smits of BOS.

In many parts of the world, it is critical that we plant a lot of trees and return a lot of land to forest. The loss of the forest contributes to loss of habitat for animals, a reduction in available drinkable water, loss of soil and even landslides that destroy Smaboja Lestaritowns and villages. We also need to increase the number of trees to absorb the excess gases that cause global warming. Moreover, there is a direct link between deforestation and drought, which has become a severe and worsening problem - totally reversible through reforestation - throughout the tropics.

Most reforestation efforts are being spent on plantations, not on genuine new forests. We use the term "reforestation" a lot, but in reality, unless the lands are permanently returned to forest, you are not reforesting, you are raising a crop of trees. Tree plantations can reduce commercial pressure on remaining forests, but they are not themselves new forests. Just like a loss of trees is not deforestation unless the land usage permanently changes, it isn't reforestation unless the end result is a forest.

Through the years many organizations, Rainforest Action Network, The Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club, etc. have seen the value of the forests and have worked diligently to protect them. Unfortunately, in spite of their efforts, the rainforests of the planet continue to shrink, and the animals that live in the forests continue to fall into extinction.

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Tree Avalanching - The Finacial Engine for Turning the Tide on Global Deforestation

 

by Fred Morgan, President Finca Leola S.A

Tropical Reforestation According to the World Resource Institute based at Washington DC (U.S.A.), the rates of rainforest destruction are 2.4 acre per second, 149 acres per minute, 214000 acres per day and 78 million acres per year.

These are truly daunting numbers.

To solve the problem of deforestation, we have to plant forests, not just trees.

The definition of deforestation is not the loss of trees, but the change of land use from forested to some other use. If trees are lost even through clear cutting, if the land is left alone, the trees will come back eventually.

In order to reforest, we have to permanently return land to forest use. If you go out and plant trees anywhere you want - perhaps farmers will let you plant on their property, for example - you haven't yet reforested. This is because eventually someone can cut down those trees because of the value represented there. Very often, someone protects a section of their property and never cuts the trees, but after they die, the property is sold and their protected forest is cleared and turned to another use.

This is also a problem that governments don't seem to handle very well. As seen in the USA, what one administration protects, another administration harvests. As pressure grows on governments because of the debt they all seem to build, the forest is being liquidated - just like those who own properties often sell their trees to help pay off debt or for money to live.

Almost anyone would eventually cut down their trees if economic pressures were severe enough. If you own your own home, where it stands was probably a forest at one time. Would you willingly abandon your home (and the money it represents) in order to let the forest come back? Most likely not, because the money lost to you would be very significant, and you probably could not afford it.

Voluntary preservation of the forest is not enough. This is why it is so difficult to stop deforestation in the tropics - a well-grown tree represents a lot of money. In most tropical regions, a farm worker could buy a home with the money from a single mature tree.

Replacing deforestation with reforestation must meet the following three requirements:

Tropical Reforestation

The trees must be able to fund land preservation.

The trees must be able to diversify.

The trees must be able to fund more acquisition of more land.

The Trees Must Be Able to Fund Land Preservation

Trees have to have a way to pay for their own protection.

Even though most tropical nations put aside land as permanent parks, the governments don't have the money to adequately protect those parks. Because of that, some of the bigger national parks are at risk because of tree poaching. Remember that an old growth tree (which is only 100 years old here) could potentially buy a home in most developing countries.

Thinking a forest will survive without protection is like thinking you could protect your money by leaving it by the side of the road. Sure, there would be many people who would either pass it by or try to give it back to you - but it only takes one person who would consider it "finders keepers" for you to lose your unprotected money. Most people respect the need to preserve the forest, but it only takes a few to undo all the time spent growing trees.

It isn't as simple as just planting trees on land set aside for the purpose - or even passing laws saying areas are protected. Without active protection, the trees will eventually be gone, just like your money by the side of the road. (Continued on Next Page)

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