For Individuals

We All rely on tropical forests

Whether it’s that cup of coffee in the morning, the bar of chocolate after a run, writing in a paper journal, or even the shower gel keeping you clean — we all rely on products that come from forest landscapes to keep us going.

Many of the ingredients in the products we love are grown on tropical land that was once rainforest. The top five consumer products causing tropical deforestation are beef, soy (used primarily in animal feed), palm oil, wood pulp for paper, and cocoa. Increasing demand for these products is driving more and more conversion of rainforests into plantations or cattle ranches.

This means that we all have a forest footprint that, unlike our fossil fuel footprint, we can’t reduce to zero. But wouldn’t it be nice if we could protect an area of forest equivalent to what we need for farming? We’ve set up the Forest Conservation Fund to do just that: to support conservation projects in forest landscapes which are at risk of being converted to new plantations, making it easy for companies and individuals to compensate for their forest footprint.

compensating your Carbon emissions through tropical forest protection

Deforestation is responsible for a shocking 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. If we are to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees, we need to keep every last hectare of forest standing. Donations to the Forest Conservation Fund ensure that local actors have the financial support needed to protect their forests from fires, illegal logging, and conversion to agriculture. In carbon-emission terminology, this is called ‘reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation.’ FCF calculates the estimated avoided emissions for each of our approved projects - for the Inaina Forest project in Papua New Guinea, each hectare protected represents about 5 tonnes of avoided emissions each year. After you’ve reduced your own emissions as much as possible, you can ‘offset’ the remainder by supporting the Fagagara Clan to protect the Inaina forest through the link below.

HOW DO I CALCULATE MY FOOTPRINT?

Working out how many hectares you are impacting in tropical forests depends on the diet you follow, since what we eat determines how we use our planet’s land. Deforestation for agriculture is responsible for 10% of our greenhouse gas emissions, and most of that is for meat and dairy products. So if you are a regular meat-eater, we recommend that you protect three hectares (at US$120 per year), and consider adopting a Planetary Health Diet, explained here. Vegetarians should protect two hectares (at US$80 per year) and if you’re vegan, one hectare should cover your forest footprint (at US$40 per year). And why not offer your family, friends, or employees the gift of a forest-positive footprint? Beyond the benefits for wildlife and carbon, it’s a great way to inform others about the impact of their diets on the world’s forests and climate.

In Europe, the average carbon emissions are about 8 tonnes per year - so by protecting a hectare of forest through our Tanoe Ehy project, you have likely offset your carbon emissions. There are lots of great sites that explain how to calculate your carbon footprint and simple steps you can take to reduce it - we recommend using a site that has data for your own country, run by a non-profit you trust so that you can be sure the information is neutral and scientific.