Cool Earth welcomes Davi - inspirational rainforest campaigner

This week Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, the renowned Yanomami Indian leader from Brazilian Amazonia and winner of the UN Global 500 award will arrive in London. He is visiting the UK to highlight the role that indigenous reserves play in protecting rainforest which provides a critical global environmental service. Davi is a world class campaigner who argues that to save the rainforest it is essential to first save the Indians, by recognising their land rights.

Cool Earth knows that indigenous peoples are unrivalled custodians of the forest. Existing indigenous reserves are already protecting many millions of acres of pristine rainforest, generally in the interior of the forest rather than on the arc of deforestation where Cool Earth concentrates its efforts. This is why the role that Cool Earth plays in buying land earmarked for destruction and returning it to local communities is so important to the protection of indigenous people.

Cool Earth was created to give rainforest communities control of their forest in order to protect a unique ecosystem forever. Cool Earth buys land, vests it to local communities and seeks to generate income from avoided deforestation to create sustainable protection for rainforest people and the forest. Only by putting a higher value on standing rainforest than cut timber or soya plantations can the most at-risk forest be saved.

Cool Earth director, Matthew Owen said "Davi Kopenawa Yanomami's visit to London underlines the importance of returning land to rainforest communities. Cool Earth's commitment to buying land in play between loggers, ranchers and agri-business on behalf of rainforest communities shows how sponsors in the UK can contribute directly to saving rainforest and rainforest people. What's more, on the frontier of deforestation our supporters' sponsorship is building a protective barrier to destruction of the interior. By pricing loggers, ranchers and soya plantations out of the market Cool Earth is protecting indigenous reserves across the world's rainforests."

Since its launch in June 2007, with the support of Sir David Attenborough and Sir Nicholas Stern, Cool Earth has become Europe's fastest growing environmental movement and is on course to secure 100,000 acres of the world's most endangered rainforests by year end.

Bookmark this page: