Rainforest Solutions
Ethiopia is King of Reforestation
The Billion Tree Campaign has passed
the four billion mark, in a crucial step towards its target of seven
billion trees planted by the end of 2009.
The milestone was reached following confirmation from the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture that an additional 687 million trees were planted in 2008 under the country's nationwide tree planting campaign - part of the one billion trees that were planted over the last 52 days.
The total has also been boosted by individual tree planting efforts by people around the world taking part in a global tree planting drive for World Environment Day, a hands-on way for communities to urge world leaders to "seal the deal" at the crucial UN climate change talks in Copenhagen in December.
Important Project: The Prince of Wales introduces his rainforests project
HRH The Prince of Wales presents an introduction to The Prince's Rainforests Project, his new charity dedicated to the cause of finding a way to ensure that tropical rainforests are worth more standing than cut down. Here he welcomes viewers to his website, http://www.princesrainforestsproject.org , outlines his reasons for starting the project, explains what is at stake and why time is of the essence.
Can we replant the planet's rainforests?
Reforestation efforts are sprouting up all around the world. Numerous conservation groups are working to preserve, enlarge and connect the world's rainforests. Let's take a closer look at some of those projects.
Rwanda's government and various ecological groups are paying special attention to the Gishwati Forest Reserve. Once a vast rainforest, activities such as deforestation and refugee resettlement reduced it to a fraction of its original size around the turn of the century [source: Science Daily]. Since then, reforestation has somewhat increased the size of the forest, but it remains a sliver of its original size.
Cutting Down Trees to Save the Rainforest - Lessons in Sustainable Forestry
Sustainable Forestry Rain Forest
From Eco Preservation Society
Do Trees Grow on Money?
Rainforests are back on the global agenda in a big way. Governments now recognize the importance of protecting tropical forests in order to avoid dangerous climate change, and there is now much debate. As governments try to thrash out the details of a new international agreement, expected to be signed at the end of 2009, they are discussing how best to include measures to save rainforests, and thereby address one of the major causes of climate change. Worldwide, forest destruction generates more greenhouse gas emissions each year than do all the trains, planes and cars on the planet. So if we are to tackle global warming, there is an urgent need to find ways to reduce the 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by forest destruction each year, and to keep the remaining forests standing.We need to protect the planet's remaining forests not only to stop climate change from getting worse, but to ensure that we can withstand the impacts of global warming. Healthy forests absorb and store vast quantities of carbon, helping to regulate temperature and generate rain. When they are destroyed, this carbon is released into the atmosphere. They also fight erosion and protect underground water supplies. Thus keeping forests standing is both a critical part of mitigating climate change and of adapting to a warmer world.
