Some people in the UK have come up with a unique way of saving rainforest – “buy it”.
Cool Earth, a new charity aims to let people ‘buy’ parts of the rainforest to protect them. The charity is the idea of the Labour MP, Frank Field, known for his corncerns about social services, and a Swedish businessman, Johan Eliasch, who already owns 400,000 acres of rainforest.
Donors have to pay £70 to protect an acre of rainforest from logging and £90 to protect an acre forest from cattle grazing.
According to Field, protecting the rainforest is the number one priority in tackling climate change. He hopes that his initiative will become a mass movement.
Field said, Cool Earth is a way to enable people do something to protect forests that also provides local employment. The charity gives hold of land to local people who could indulge in income-generating activities like rubber tapping without harming the forest.
The project is backed by eminent personalities including Tony Blair.
Blair said:
Governments have a key role to play in tackling global warming, but alone, they are not enough. Only with people and Governments working together can we save the planet from catastrophe.
Fifty million acres of rainforest are cut down every year. This is equivalent to the size of Britain. The cutting of these rainforest finally result in carbon dioxide emissions more than that emitted by the largest carbon dioxide emitter on the planet-the US.
With climate change threatening the existence of several species including the Homo Sapiens, it is the duty of the wise man to save the planet. This is possible only when common people fell the urgency of fixing the problem of pollution, deforestation and greenhouse gases emissions. Though saving trees from being cut down won’t be able to set the climate change right, it will surely make a dent in the global carbon emissions. This is surely a welcome move.
Source: Telegraph
Image Source: www.uwsp.edu