cool earth - the basics
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COOL EARTH IS THE CHARITY THAT WORKS ALONGSIDE INDIGENOUS VILLAGES TO HALT RAINFOREST DESTRUCTION.
Cool Earth puts local people back in control, giving them the resources they need to keep their forest intact. By saving rainforest that is at greatest risk, we shield millions of acres of neighbouring forest.
It is an approach that research proves to be the most effective way of keeping rainforest standing. It is also an approach that is transforming the lives of some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities.
Cool Earth is now at the most challenging point in its history with villages around the world queuing up to partner with us. Your support means we can provide a helping hand to more people than ever, to keep their forest safe and change the future of the world’s remaining rainforests.
4 Cool Earth
WHY RAINFOREST?
Rainforests store half the world’s carbon.
They produce 20% of our oxygen and a fifth
of all freshwater. They’re home to six million
species. And protecting them is the best way
to tackle climate change.
Our changing climate is the most pressing
challenge facing our world today.
Deforestation contributes up to 20% of global CO2 emissions. Keeping
rainforest standing is the simplest and cheapest way to mitigate
climate change.
CLIMATE RESILIENCE
For our partner communities, the catastrophic effects of climate change
are already a reality. More frequent and intense droughts and floods, along
with rising sea levels, are threatening their livelihoods as well as their
forest. To keep their forest standing and ensure its long term survival, these
communities need to be resilient to the changing climate.
HOME TO 350 MILLION PEOPLE
The 350 million people that live in the rainforest rely on it for everything:
food, medicine, water, their identity. They are proven to be the best possible
people to keep rainforest safe. This is why each of our partnerships start
with a rainforest village.
8 Cool Earth
“Action to preserve the remaining areas of rainforest
is urgently needed in the fight against climate change.
Cool Earth is supporting local communities to protect
their forest livelihoods and is providing powerful examples
for action on a big scale.”
Sir Nicholas Stern, Economist and author of the Stern Review
“Action to preserve the remaining areas of rainforest
is urgently needed in the fight against climate change.
Cool Earth is supporting local communities to protect
their forest livelihoods and is providing powerful examples
for action on a big scale.”
Sir Nicholas Stern, Economist and author of the Stern Review
Why Rainforest 11
COOL EARTH BELIEVES THE RAINFOREST CAN BE SAVED.
WE JUST NEED A NEW APPROACH.
Cool Earth is changing the way rainforest is
protected. Our simple model is helping local
people protect their rainforest around
the world.
Our mission is to end the cycle of deforestation that drags indigenous
villages into further poverty. We create strong, self-determining
communities and aim for each village partnership to become self-funded
within seven years. By building sustainable livelihoods, our partner
communities earn more from keeping the forest standing than they could
earn from clearing it.
No threat to their ownership, no fenced-off reserves. Just local people
safeguarding the future of their forest and the future of the planet.
Our Approach 13
AT RISK
Cool Earth works where the threat
is greatest, with partnerships on the
frontline of deforestation.
BUILDING LIVELIHOODS
Rainforest is safe when local people
earn more from keeping the forest
standing than they would from
clearing it. We help build livelihoods
to ensure each partnership is self
funding within seven years.
LOCAL PEOPLE IN CONTROL
We only work with villages that
approach us. They decide how funds
are spent and they drive
the partnership.
GROWING THE SHIELD
Our partnerships grow by word of
mouth, with neighbouring villages
asking to work with us too. As
villages link up, a shield is formed to
protect the forest behind.
14 Cool Earth
“I’ve put my faith in the fantastic charity Cool Earth, which works with local people to protect rainforest that is vulnerable to loggers. And the good news is that it works.”
Dame Vivienne Westwood, Cool Earth Patron
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OUR IMPACT
AN AWARD WINNING COMMUNITY LED CONSERVATION MODEL that has been successfully replicated
in all three of the world’s major rainforest biomes.
MORE RAINFOREST UNDER 24/7 PROTECTION
by indigenous people than any other
NGO or government.
The Ministry of Environment in
Peru has based its National Forest
Programme on the Cool Earth model.
Two completed projects in Brazil and
Ecuador – securing the long term
protection of 119,000 acres
of rainforest.
SAFEGUARDING THE HABITATS OF MORE THAN 80 SPECIES ON THE IUCN
RED LIST.
PROOF IT WORKS: Canopy loss in our Asháninka partnership is
less than one percent, compared to 28% in
comparable areas nearby.
116 VILLAGE PARTNERS
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
Activity where we will make the
biggest impact, in countries on the
brink of rapid deforestation and
specifically in villages on the very
frontier of deforestation.
More than 160 million tonnes of
carbon locked in.
PROTECTION OF MORE THAN 600,000 ACRES
of rainforest that would
otherwise have been destroyed.
A FOREST SHIELD that makes millions more acres of
forest inaccessible to loggers.
“Helping Cool Earth to halt tropical deforestation makes a real difference. Perhaps the biggest difference we will make in our whole lives.”
Sir David Attenborough
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THE PLAN
The rate of global deforestation is increasing and
with it the queue of communities wanting to work
with us.
The chance to expand the Cool Earth model is
exciting and a huge challenge. With sufficient
funding, we will be able to double the size of the
forest shield.
We are supported by a strong business community,
trusts and foundations, and over 200,000
individual donors.
Supporting Cool Earth is the most effective way
to halt deforestation, lock in carbon and empower
some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
Community Expenditure to date:
EDUCATION
9%
HEALTH
13%
LIVELIHOOD GENERATION
6%
TRANSPORT
16%
MICROCREDIT
4%
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ASSOCIATION STRENGTHENING
12%
COMMUNITY BUILDINGS
25%
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
15%
EDUCATION
9%
HEALTH
13%
TRANSPORT
16%
MICROCREDIT
4%
Our Impact 23
From working solely in the
Amazon, we’ve replicated our
model in all three of the
world’s rainforest biomes.
OUR PARTNERSHIPS
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26 Cool Earth
Our partnerships are located in countries
and communities where the threat to
the forest is greatest, on the verge of
intensive deforestation.
Whether Cool Earth is working in the Congo, Amazon or Oceania, we’re
always focused on putting local people back in control of their forest.
ASHÁNINKA
The Asháninka are Peru’s largest indigenous nation. Having lived in the
central rainforests for generations, their territory is now at extreme risk
from illegal logging and coca trafficking. From our first village partner of
Cutivireni, we’re now working with 16 villages to form a protective shield
for the adjacent National Park, making millions of acres of neighbouring
forest inaccessible to loggers.
AWAJÚN
Our partnership in northern Peru works with seven Awajún villages
scattered along the banks of the Marañon, close to the Ecuadorian border.
The Awajún are renowned for their fierce independence, but with their
forest under threat from oil and gold extraction they asked Cool Earth to
help defend their ancestral forest. With the second highest deforestation
rate in the country, the work of this partnership could not be more critical.
Our Partnerships 27
LUBUTU
Our first partnership outside the Amazon is in the
east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. DRC is the
world’s second largest rainforest nation and one of the
world’s poorest. On the brink of rapid development, its
forests are increasingly under threat. We’re working
with five villages in Maniema, the country’s most
remote province. Our aim is to create a buffer for the
neighbouring reserve and ensure local people benefit
from keeping the rainforest standing.
ORANGERIE BAY
Working in the east of Papua New Guinea, we’re
partnering with four strategically located villages to halt
the advance of the palm frontier. Of all the drivers of
tropical deforestation in Papua New Guinea, palm oil
is the worst. An ecosystem that has taken millions of
years to evolve is destroyed in a matter of days. Situated
in Milne Bay Province, our partnership is blocking the
expansion of palm oil plantations from the east and
shielding the pristine rainforest behind. If successful,
this partnership will keep millions of acres of unique
rainforest safe.
28 Cool Earth
Our Partnerships 29
COOL EARTH IS SAVING RAINFORESTONE VILLAGE AT A TIME.
Cool Earth partnerships all start with a
rainforest village.
The rainforest won’t be saved with global agreements or national reserves
as they stand today. It is the people who live in the rainforest that can stop
its destruction now.
We know that the forest is only safe when a village is strong enough to
protect it. By putting local people in charge, better livelihoods, better health,
better education and energy security all lead to forest kept standing.
All our partnerships put the right people in control of the rainforest.
We’re just a helping hand.
Saving rainforest village by village 31
LIVELIHOODS
For our partnerships to be sustainable, our partners need to earn more from
keeping the forest standing than they would otherwise earn from clearing it.
That’s how our partners become self-sufficient, not dependent. So whether
it’s cacao, coffee or coconut oil, our partner villages are out-pricing
forest destruction.
CO OPERATIVESEstablishing Growers Cooperatives to share production
and transport costs.
TRAINING AND EQUIPMENTImproving cultivation techniques to increase
produce quality.
LINKING MARKETS
Linking villages to national and international markets
to fetch a top price for produce grown in the shade of
a protected canopy.
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“Cacao is vital for us. It gives a household sustainability: money for health, education and food for our children.”
Sergio Capeshi, Ayompari President, Asháninka Partnership, Peru
HEALTH
Living 20 hours from the closest hospital puts lives at risk. In some villages,
more than a third of families have lost a child. It’s hardly surprising that
better healthcare is at the heart of every Cool Earth partnership.
MOSQUITO NETS Cutivireni provided every family in its village with
mosquito nets, resulting in a 60% drop
in malaria cases.
EMERGENCY EVACUATIONS
Travelling to the nearest hospital can easily cost
hundreds of dollars from a remote village. Every
partnership has designated funds to save the lives of the
seriously ill.
NUTRITION AND MATERNAL HEALTH
Infant mortality in rainforest communities is shockingly
high. We are training health promoters to reverse
this trend.
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“Before it was impossible to get the seriously ill to hospital and people died. Since we’ve had the support of Cool Earth, we are able to evacuate in an emergency. It’s helping us to save lives. Today we are strengthened from the partnership.”
Cesar BustamanteCutivireni Village, Peru
“I am so proud of our new school. We’ve never had a proper building. Before it would always collapse and the children would lose out on schooling. This building will last and be good for the whole community. Thank you.”
Vanessa Quirigua, Saboroshiari School Teacher
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EDUCATION
Education can transform the future of a child, a family and a community.
No matter where our partners are in the world, the schooling of their
children is a priority.
BACK TO SCHOOL BURSARYProviding each family with a small
fund to cover the costs of the new
school year. Lacking simple items
such as uniforms and school
books can mean children never
attend school.
CLASSROOMSBuilding classrooms that protect
students from the elements so
school doesn’t stop in the
rainy season.
BOARDING HOUSES Providing accommodation so that
students that live too far to walk to
school everyday still get a chance at
an education.
SCHOLARSHIPSScholarship Programmes to
cover costs of further education
in nearby cities.
Saving rainforest village by village 37
ENERGY
Demand for fuelwood and charcoal is a big contributor to rainforest loss
and cooking on open fires is a major health hazard. Smoke from cooking
fires kills more children every year than AIDS or malaria combined*.
That’s why our partner villages are implementing alternative, sustainable
energy projects.
HEALTHIER COMMUNITIES Less woodsmoke improves respiratory health, especially
for women and children.
REDUCED ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS
Sustainable energy projects reduce pressure on the
forest and keep trees standing.
FEMALE EMPOWERMENT AND INCOME GENERATION Women manage and get an income from Cool Earth’s
community energy projects. Less time collecting wood
also means more time in education for girls.
* (source: Practical Action)
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“We cannot have a good life without conserving our natural resources especially trees and forest resources that we are depending on.”
Mbake Silva, Lubutu Partnership
Saving rainforest village by village 39
“We’re telling our neighbours about Cool Earth. Protecting our trees means all our families benefit. It’s better than selling wood to benefit a few.”
Leopoldo Chimanga Chumpate Oviri Village, Peru
Telephone:
UK +44 1872 223 049
US 1-888-499-8733
Email:
Address:
66 Lemon Street, Truro, TR1 2PN, UK
WWW.COOLEARTH.ORG
Registered charity: 1117978 | US 501 (c)(3)
Printed on 100% recycled paper.