Sky Rainforest Rescue is launched

WWF and Sky have launched a campaign to save 1 Billion Amazon rainforest trees this week with support from celebrities such as Lily Cole.  The campaign aims to tackle climate change, and protect the people and habitats of the Amazon Rainforest by protecting an area of rainforest the size of Belgium.  Currently, an area the size of 3 football pitches is deforested every minute in the Amazon region which results in fewer trees available to absorb carbon dioxide which contributes to climate change.

Deforestation is responsible for around a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions – that’s more than all of the world’s cars, planes, trains and ships put together. Tropical forests are home to over 50% of species on the planet, and countless indigenous tribes whose way of life is inextricably linked to the forest.  The campaign will focus on the Brazilian state of Acre where 12% of the state has already been deforested. The Sky Rainforest Rescue aims to:

• Help local farmers adopt farming practices that reduce pressure on forestland

• Set up a fund to support local communities – including indigenous peoples, rubber tappers and farmers – to preserve the forest, making it worth more to conserve trees than chop them down

Acre is home to 655,000 people and species such as jaguar, giant otters and howler monkeys and the Government there has shown a strong commitment to balancing economic and social development with environmental conservation.

Sky will match pound for pound all donations to the campaign up to a £4 million and the money will be used to work alongside local communities to ensure the forest is protected and provides local people with a valuable resource that is more useful in its original state than as felled trees. Read more about the Sky Rainforest Rescue campaign.