Donate to Conversation International (CI) to protect at least one acre of threatened forest this year.
Forests, especially tropical forests in places such as the Amazon, Congo Basin and Indonesia, store hundreds of billions of tons of carbon in their trunks, branches and soils.
However, deforestation and the degradation of our forests causes stored carbon to be released as carbon dioxide, threatening the ability of forests to filter rivers and provide homes for everything from parrots to jaguars. In fact, while tropical forests only cover two percent of the Earth's surface, they are estimated to be home to more than 50 percent of all life on planet Earth!
But every year, the world loses some 32 million acres (130,000 square kilometers) of tropical forests – an area the size of England.
And remember the deforestation numbers from "Plant a Tree"? The destruction of global forests accounts for about 16 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide – something we could all be helping to stop, today.
Standing Up for Standing Forests It can be difficult to directly reduce deforestation through everyday actions, but preserving a threatened acre is a direct way to help. Protecting just one acre will keep about 1 metric ton (about 2,200 pounds) of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere every year – the weight of four of those pygmy hippopotamuses that the forests of Africa hold.
So let's do the math. If every American household protected one acre, we would prevent the emission of more than 101 million metric tons of greenhouse gases and conserve a territory almost three times the size of England. And if you can't convince every single U.S. household, what about your family, your friends, your office or your school?
The "How To" This one is simple too: donate to CI's Protect an Acre program, and help support projects that protect forests in countries like Guyana, Madagascar, Indonesia, Liberia, and Brazil.
CI works on projects from local to international scales to ensure that forests are sustainably managed, to fight illegal deforestation, and to benefit local communities. And remember, protecting forests also means protecting the habitat of many of the world's endangered or threatened species, from black and white lemurs to tigers and brilliant, poisonous frogs.
Protect an acre today.