Tuesday, March 30, 2010

"The benefits of reforestation activities are much larger than carbon offsetting only"


My thanks to reader PV for sending this link to a very interesting BBC News report. That quote in the title comes from Tristan Lecomte, the dude heading up a tree-planting project in the Amazon Basin of Peru and Bolivia sponsored by Nestlé. Here's a small excerpt from the article:
"Nestle Waters France wants to offset the equivalent of all the annual carbon emissions from its Vittel mineral water production in France and Belgium - approximately 115,000 tonnes of carbon a year.

"In order to do this, it will fund the planting of 350,000 trees in an existing project in the Bolivian Amazon and a new one in the jungle of Peru with a view to renewing the same number of trees every year."

Now for sure these big company carbon offsetting schemes have often been plenty talk with little action, but this one really seems to be working for all concerned; the locals, the major international company and the environment. Therefore the small excerpt above does little justice to the whole report and I strongly suggest you read the whole thing.

IKN applauds when capitalism shows its positive side.