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In partnership with the National Wildlife Federation, SustainUS, 350, Focus the Nation and Union of Concerned Scientists.
Rooting for the Amazon!
June 12, 2010 – 9:17 pm
Photo: Rachel Kramer/NWF
This weekend in Washington, DC World Cup fans rooted for the Amazon rainforest at a showing of the USA v England game in Dupont Circle! Check out more pics on Flickr!
Join the U.S. National Team’s Defender Jonathan Spector in supporting NWF’s TEAM AMAZON!
Visit www.nwf.org/worldcup today to sign NWF’s petition and show your support for Deforestation-Free Leather products!
Resources:
- Root for companies that ‘play fair’ – Join NWF’s TEAM AMAZON!
- Follow the FIFA World Cup with NWF on Facebook
- Learn more about the Amazon-World Cup connection
- NWF International - Protecting Forests in Unlikely Places
- NWF’s Climate Change, Deforestation and Agriculture Project
Join TEAM AMAZON–Support Leather that’s Deforestation-Free
June 10, 2010 – 3:53 pm
Root for rainforests during this year’s FIFA World Cup June 11-July 11!
Join National Wildlife Federation’s TEAM AMAZON and show your support for cleats, balls, apparel and other leather products that are deforestation-free. Stay involved–follow the 2010 World Cup with the National Wildlife Federation on Twitter and Facebook!
Resources:
- Root for companies that ‘play fair’ – Join NWF’s TEAM AMAZON!
- Follow the FIFA World Cup with NWF on Facebook
- Learn more about the Amazon-World Cup connection
- NWF International - Protecting Forests in Unlikely Places
- NWF’s Climate Change, Deforestation and Agriculture Project
Join TEAM AMAZON on Facebook!
June 4, 2010 – 4:43 pm
Join TEAM AMAZON, National Wildlife Federation – International’s NEW! Facebook page.
Get updates on the 2010 FIFA World Cup games and learn more about how NWF & World Cup sponsors are showing deforestation the red card!
The Amazon Connection
June 3, 2010 – 2:00 pm
Check out National Wildlife Federation’s latest video clip to learn more about the connection between the Amazon rainforest and products we use each day!
An area of rainforest as large as the state of Texas has been cleared in Brazil’s Amazon and is now used for cattle pasture, making cattle expansion the largest driver of deforestation on the planet. Beef, leather and other cattle products make it into items we use, eat and wear each day. But solutions exist! Visit www.nwf.org/deforestation to find out more…
Related Resources:
- National Wildlife Federation Climate Change, Deforestation and Agriculture Project
- Follow NWF International on Twitter and Facebook!
Support Farms Here, Protect Forests There
May 27, 2010 – 2:55 pm
Photo: Rachel Kramer/NWF
The conservation of tropical rainforests has benefits beyond safeguarding habitat for biodiversity, maintaining ecological services communities depend on, and protecting carbon stocks that help keep our global climate in check.
Saving forests in faraway places can actually benefit U.S. family farmers struggling to compete with cheap imported food and forest products that are produced at the expense of rainforests.
A newly released Avoided Deforestation Partners report, Farms Here, Forests There: Tropical Deforestation and U.S. Competitiveness in Agriculture and Timber, establishes the connection between the destruction of our world’s tropical forests by overseas timber, agriculture, and cattle operations, and expanded production of commodities that directly compete with U.S. products.
The report shows that ending deforestation in Brazil, Indonesia and other tropical regions could provide major economic benefits to U.S. agriculture by increasing revenues for U.S. farmers and foresters $190 - $270 billion between 2012 and 2030.
Comprehensive domestic climate legislation and innovative Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD+) systems could offer landowners in Brazil and other countries with high deforestation rates carbon offset payments as incentives to keep tropical forests standing on their lands.
To download this report, visit: http://www.adpartners.org/agriculture/
Use your voice to support forest protection worldwide. Visit the National Wildlife Federation Action Fund to send a message to your Senators today asking Majority Leader Reid to include funding for rainforest protection programs in the American Power Act!
Related Resources:
- More on Avoided Deforestation Partners
- National Wildlife Federation Climate Change, Deforestation and Agriculture Project
- Follow NWF International on Twitter and Facebook!
Protecting Forests in Unlikely Places
May 21, 2010 – 2:41 pm
LEATHER MODEL IN HONG KONG, Photo: Rachel Kramer/NWF
What does the fashion industry have to do with tropical rainforests?
Check out our NEW PAGE to follow the National Wildlife Federation as we travel around the world, from Brazil to China, promoting market-based solutions to deforestation in the Amazon and other tropical regions.
We’re working to engage international producers, retailers and consumers to address the “forest footprints” of key agricultural products, including leather sourced from the Brazilian Amazon. See our latest update:
HONG KONG–Working Towards Company Commitments to Deforestation-Free Leather
Jane Goodall Champions Forest Cause at U.S. Senate
May 20, 2010 – 2:56 pm
Photo: Rachel Kramer/NWF
At a special event on Capitol Hill this week, conservation giant Jane Goodall joined Avoided Deforestation Partners founder Jeff Horowitz in calling on lawmakers to include sufficient funding for international forest protection in U.S. climate and energy legislation.
The Capitol Hill briefing focused on opportunities for U.S. leadership today, and stressed the importance of tropical forests in climate, energy and foreign policy.
Also lending their voices in support of the cause were Senator Patrick Leahy (Vermont), Senator Sam Brownback (New Mexico), Congresswoman Nita Lowey (New York), and the Presidents of World Wildlife Fund US, CARE USA, and The Nature Conservancy.
“We are reaching a point where the future is in jeopardy,” cautioned Jane Goodall. “Every single day we live on this planet we impact it, and today we have the opportunity to choose what that impact will be.”
Use your voice to support forest protection worldwide. Visit the National Wildlife Federation Action Fund to send a message to your Senators today!
Related Resources:
- Reuters – May 17, 2010: U.S. Senate climate bill cuts aid to global forests
- More on Avoided Deforestation Partners
- National Wildlife Federation Climate Change, Deforestation and Agriculture Project
- Follow NWF International on Twitter and Facebook!
Nestlé Proves Every Voice Counts
May 18, 2010 – 8:12 pm
Photo: Tom Low/CCommons
This week Nestlé responded to public demand that it stop buying palm oil—an ingredient in products from Kit Kat bars to Pringles—from areas of tropical deforestation.
This decision followed two months of campaigning by the international environmental group Greenpeace. The take-away message from this story: to save our planet’s rainforests, we have to focus on major international drivers of deforestation–and when it comes to influencing big companies, every voice counts.
Whether we like it or not, palm oil is an ingredient in a range of products we consume each day, from hand soap to chocolate.
Since palm grows best in tropical environments, much of the palm oil on the market today comes from industrial-scale plantations in Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. This conversion of natural landscapes for big agriculture has devastating effects on rainforests, wildlife (such as the orangutan) and forest peoples.
Over the past two months, Greenpeace activists have hung banners from buildings, created a website, and posted a controversial campaign video online to urge Nestlé to give rainforests (and orangutans) “a break”.
But it wasn’t until consumers like you and me put our weight behind this call for change that Nestlé finally announced it would alter its purchasing policy to source better palm oil that doesn’t come at the expense of our planet’s rainforests.
Nestlé is now working to clean up its act, but the battle isn’t won. Many multi-national companies continue to profit from the destruction of tropical rainforests.
It’s time we continue to use our voices to bring about the change we wish to see in the world.
Related Resources:
- Mongabay.com – May 17, 2010: Nestle caves to activist pressure on palm oil
- Greenpeace: Ask Nestle to give rainforests a break
- National Wildlife Federation Climate Change, Deforestation and Agriculture Project
- Follow NWF International on Twitter
Speak for the Trees
May 18, 2010 – 6:03 pm
Photo: Rachel Kramer/NWF
Last week, supporters sent thousands of messages to the United States Senate asking their senators to tell Majority Leader Reid to include funding to protect rainforests in the American Power Act.
Many developing countries are trying to put an end to deforestation, but they cannot do it without support. A “set aside” of allowances for rainforest protection programs would help developing countries strengthen their ability to measure and reduce deforestation.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act, passed in the U.S House last year, protects tropical rainforests by investing a small percentage of the bill’s revenue into forest protection programs. The Senate American Power Act must include similar provisions in order to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as safeguard wildlife, habitats and forest-dependent peoples.
Americans who care about their childrens’ future understand the immense value of tropical rainforests. If you have not already, click here to speak for the trees!
Related Resources:
- Reuters – May 17, 2010: U.S. Senate climate bill cuts aid to global forests
- National Wildlife Federation Climate Change, Deforestation and Agriculture Project
- Follow NWF International on Twitter
Stop Deforestation with a Strong Climate Bill
May 12, 2010 – 3:36 pm
Photo: Rachel Kramer/NWF
A senate climate bill will be announced on Capitol Hill today to address America’s climate and energy crisis, but they left out one important element—protecting rainforests.
Tropical deforestation contributes as much as 15% of all carbon dioxide pollution each year. Tropical forests are home to over half of all species on earth and millions of people depend on them for their livelihoods.
That’s why it’s essential that U.S. climate legislation include funds to protect rainforests and assist developing countries in transitioning to a clean and sustainable energy future.
CLICK HERE to send a message to your senator now, asking him/her to tell Chairman Reid how important it is to fund provisions that protect rainforests in the Senate climate bill!
