The Bold Model Stopping Deforestation In Its Tracks

The Bold Model Stopping Deforestation In Its Tracks

The Bold Model Stopping Deforestation In Its Tracks Rainforests are powerful carbon sinks and crucial to climate stability. A pioneering effort to protect them involves providing cash to forest communities so they don’t need to accept offers from loggers The first time the loggers came to Saipa’s rainforest village was in the 1990s. Located in Milne Bay province, Papua New Guinea, the territory is home to around 280 people but spans an area around twice the size of central London, with more than 15m trees. Papua New Guinea is a biodiversity hotspot, a place where harpy eagles cruise for tree kangaroos and possums, and vulturine ‘Dracula’ parrots gorge on figs high in the forest canopy. Several families agreed to sell logging rights to their land back then but were paid paltry sums – only 50 kina (£9) each, far less than was originally agreed. The community said: ‘Never again’, but knew that they remained vulnerable. “We feel proud of our relationship with the forest, but the life we liv…