 Forests are essential to slow climate change. Trees absorb CO2 and store carbon. Apes disperse seeds that grow into trees. |
Working Groups - Carbon
How saving the apes can help the fight against climate change.
Carbon trading has suddenly become a multi-BILLION dollar business. Not only could it reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming, however, it could also help protect forests where gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans and gibbons live.
This new working group has been set up to explore the potential of carbon finance to contribute to the conservation of apes and their habitat. Some conservation groups are already putting these ideas into practice – see http://www.climate-standards.org/
The ApAl Carbon WG is currently lobbying to change the rules governing carbon trading so that “avoided deforestation” carbon credits (especially from tropical countries) are recognised under the Kyoto Protocol and the EU Emissions Trading System. We must convince world leaders BEFORE the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (see http://unfccc.int/2860.php ) concludes negotiations on the agreement that will follow the Kyoto Protocol (which ends in 2012).
The following documents explain this complex topic in more detail. Please read them and write to your MP, MEP, Senator or Congressman urging him or her to lend support.
Documents to download:
- Sample letter:
An open letter from the Ape Alliance chairman to Rt Hon David Miliband MP, UK Secretary of State for Environment
Please feel free to use this letter as a basis for yours, or simply write in support of it.
- Summary of arguments sent with above letter.
- Submission by SFM to the UK Environmental Audit Committee’s Voluntary Carbon Market Inquiry.
- Submission by SFM to DEFRA consultation on voluntary standards for carbon trading
- Two page leaflet summarising the issue.
- Forest Carbon briefing document by Global Canopy Programme (more info at www.globalcanopy.org)
- The VivoCarbon Initiative - Forests First in the Fight Against Climate Change (more info at www.globalcanopy.org)
- Ape Alliance members helped to draft the Forest NOW Declaration, launched with a full page ad in the Financial Times on 12th September 2007. Sign up to this important Declaration at www.ForestsNOW.org and view the calendar counting down to Copenhagen 2009 at www.forestsnow.org/calendar.php
Letters & Documents from November 2010:
Click here to view Ape Alliance videos.
Archive of scientific articles: Click here to download and read Carbon Working Group related articles.
Related news & articles
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Africa is Losing its Deforestation Battle and Action Needed, Says Experts
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10/11/2011
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The new Christian Aid report ‘LOW-CARBON AFRICA: LEAPFROGGING TO A GREEN FUTURE' demonstrates the considerable potential Africa has to achieve th... Read more
16/08/2011
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SINGAPORE (Reuters) - In July 2010, U.S. investor Todd Lemons and Russian energy giant Gazprom believed they were just weeks from w... Read more
25/07/2011
WWF's flagship scheme to promote sustainable timber " the Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN)" is allowing companies to reap the benefits of association with WWF and its iconic panda brand, while t... Read more
14/07/2011
Indonesia will "recognize, respect and protect" the rights of traditional forest users, including indigenous people, as it works to slow deforestation, reports the Rights and Resources Initiativ... Read more
07/07/2011
With Malaysia's Borneo rainforests already under pressure from palm oil plantations, they are now facing a new threat from the country's growing industrialisation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-... Read more
View all Science 4 Apes articles...
The following organisations attended the first meeting of the Ape Alliance Carbon WG:
- Born Free Foundation
- Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation UK
- Cockroach Productions
- Fauna and Flora International
- International Fund for Animal Welfare
- Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden
- Sumatran Orangutan Society
- Sustainable Forestry Management
- Wildlife Conservation Society
Organisations Involved
The following organisations are involved in the Carbon Working Group.
Sumatran Orangutan Society
Carbon Working Group Secretariat
Helen Buckland
The Old Music hall
106-108 Cowley Road
Oxford OX4 1JE
Biofeulwatch
Almuth Ernsting
c/o Almuth Ernsting,
10 Talisman Drive,
Aberdeen,
AB107EX
Born Free Foundation
Will Travers CEO
3 Grove House
Foundry Lane
Horsham
West Sussex
RH13 5PL
Cockroach Productions
Nick Lyon & Evie Wright
The Old Tannery
Staplegrove
Taunton
Somerset TA2 6SP
www.films4.org
http://indonesiangibbons.blogspot.com/
Fauna & Flora International
Great Eastern House
Tenison Road
Cambridge
CB1 2TT
International Fund for Animal Welfare
87-90 Albert Embankment
London
SE1 7UD
Orangutan Protection Foundation
Angel House
225 Marsh Wall
Canary Wharf
London
E14 9FW
United Kingdom