Climate Projects we're supporting this month

PROTECTING OLD-GROWTH RAINFOREST IN PERU

Madre de Dios is the third-largest, and least densely populated, region of Peru. It is home to much of the Peruvian Amazon.

The region has historically been subject to numerous conservation challenges. These include the extraction of the rich natural resources in the area – including rubber, timber, and alluvial gold. In 2011, the completion of the Trans-Oceanic Highway – linking Peru to Brazil – presented further challenges to the conservation efforts in the region, dramatically expanding the nearby town of Puerto Maldonado, and producing an uptick in illegal logging in the region, in areas nearby to the highway.

The local community is reliant on the old-growth rainforest, but protecting it from degradation and deforestation activities has been a challenge. Supporting the community to both safeguard the rainforest and to establish sustainable sources of income are therefore top priorities in the region.

0.9T CO2 REMOVED

PEATLAND RESTORATION AND CONSERVATION IN INDONESIA

Peatlands are a type of wetland and are among the most valuable ecosystems on Earth. The term ‘peatland’ refers to the peat soil and the wetland habitat growing on its surface. Peat is a swampy, water-logged soil that is made through the slow accumulation of dead trees, plants, and other organic material which can only partially decompose due to the volume of water these habitats contain.

These unique habitats store massive amounts of carbon, with stocks below ground amounting to up to 20 times the amount stored in trees and vegetation. Despite covering just 3% of the Earth’s surface, they store more carbon than all other vegetation types in the world combined. When peatlands are cleared, drained or burned, the carbon stored within them is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

Indonesia contains some 36% of the world’s tropical peatlands, however, they are increasingly being destroyed to make room for plantation crops including oil palm and acacia. From 2000 to 2015, the country lost an average of 498,000 hectares of forest each year.

0.5T CO2 REMOVED