Annual Review 2007

Demonstrating that forests are worth more alive than dead

The Global Canopy Programme is an alliance of 37 scientific institutions in 19 countries, which lead the world in forest canopy research, education and conservation. Our work programmes all aim to define and explore the range and economic value of forest ecosystem services and to share our findings with decision-makers in Government and finance. Time is not on our side as the conversion of ancient forests proceeds apace worldwide. Policy and positive incentive mechanisms based on sound science must urgently be developed to preserve these vital forest utilities for humanity.

Cover Photo: Copyright © 2007 Djuna Ivereigh Photos Copyright © 2007 Djuna Ivereigh, unless otherwise credited

Contact Global Canopy Programme, John Krebs Field Station, Wytham, Oxford, OX2 8QJ, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1865 724 222, email: [email protected], web: www.globalcanopy.org, www.forestsnow.org

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Contents Letter from the Director

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A Year in Summary

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Key Outcomes in 2007

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GCP Programmes Science Programme 1. 2. 3. 4.

Valuation of Forest Canopy Ecosystem Services Biodiversity at the Heights: IBISCA Queensland Project Whole Forest Observatories Bornean Wild Cat and Clouded Leopard Project

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Policy Programme 1. The Forests Now Declaration 2. The Prince’s Rainforests Project

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Finance Programme 1. 2. 3. 4.

The VivoCarbon Initiative The Amazonas Initiative Driving Capital to the Canopy The Climate Tree

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Capacity Building 1. Overseas Canopy Access Training Courses 2. UK Canopy Access Courses 3. ‘Kids in the Canopy’ High Science Programme

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Other Activities 1. Forest Canopies in Brazil, China, India and Malaysia 2. GCP helps ATBC become Carbon Neutral 3. Valuing Forest Canopy Ecotourism in Brazil and Malaysia

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Communications 1. 2. 3. 4.

Forests First in the Fight Against Climate Change GCP Website Forests Now Website Education Boards at Go Ape!

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Publicity

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Financial Activities

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Thanks

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The GCP Alliance

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Collaborating Institutions

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GCP Secretariat

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Letter from the Director

2007 was the year when climate change came of age. For the first time it became front page news around the world. With Katrina’s bite even America woke up to the power and cost of nature destabilised. But GCP and experts in our global Alliance noticed something missing. In the growing debate about what to do to curb the carbon emissions that are fuelling global warming, for some reason - no one was talking about forests. Energy, light-bulbs, planes, trains and cars but why not forests? Two people changed the game. Sir Michael Somare, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea and Lord Stern, author of the Stern Review of Climate Change. The former said poor nations need to be compensated to stop deforesting, the latter said we won’t win the fight against climate change unless we do, because burning forests were emitting more carbon that all the transport sector combined. GCP followed with our June 2007 report “Forests First in the Fight Against Climate Change” which put the issue on the front page here in Britain and it became a news story around the world. Our September launch of the Forests Now Declaration in the heart of the Amazon’s rainforest canopy acted as a rallying flag for political leaders, NGOs and many scientists to call on Governments to act. In Bali we got our victory as the UN overturned years of sterile debate and for the first time, in principle, agreed to include forest emissions in the future global climate regime post 2012. The next few years offer a truly historic opportunity for the world to understand what rainforests do for humanity, and to begin paying for it either through taxation or the market. Carbon is but the first service to come on stream, but there could be many more in the pipeline. The world is at an economic tipping point when such ecosystem services may begin to appear on balance sheets. Valuing what nature currently does for us for free may seem like turning biodiversity into a commodity but the alternatives have left tropical forests worth more dead than alive. Countries which own such forests, have little economic option but to cut them down to develop and to feed the poor. 25 million people live in and around the Brazilian Amazon and their needs must come first when asking what to do with it. It’s up to the international community to support countries like Brazil, which are making great strides to conserve their forests against a tide of economically more attractive alternatives. We need to think differently and that is the currency of the GCP. This report shows how we do just that. Just as canopy scientists had to think differently to explore the unknown world where life meets the atmosphere, 60 metres above our heads - so politicians, bankers, and businessmen will need to risk thinking differently about what nature is worth and how to create wealth that’s really worth having for the next generation. Yours sincerely,

Andrew Mitchell Founder and Director

Photos !: GCP/Andrew Hearn and Joanna Ross

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A Year in Summary In 2007, the world suddenly woke up to the importance of forests in the fight against climate change. A year ago, it would have been hard to predict the recent changes in national and international forest policy or the concurrent changes in the relevance and visibility of the Global Canopy Programme’s core message: that forests are worth more alive than dead. In 2007 the Stern Review informed us that deforestation accounts for around 20 percent of the carbon emissions causing global warming. You would think tropical forests should therefore account for 20 percent of the resources committed to tackling climate change. Not so. It has taken years of hard lobbying by the Global Canopy Programme and others to get the “elephant in the living room of climate change” noticed at all. In 2007 The Stern Review 1 , McKinsey report2 , and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)3 all demonstrated that saving forests is one of the most costeffective and immediate options for combating climate change. Although it may sound counter-intuitive, the forests of the future may ultimately have climate change to thank for their continued existence. In 2007, the Global Canopy Programme launched two parallel initiatives aimed at establishing political consensus around the issue of deforestation. The VivoCarbon Initiative is a road map towards securing appropriate compensation for the vital roles played by forests in sustaining life on earth. Tropical forests act as giant global utilities providing humanity with critical services which we all rely on, but do not yet pay for. These ‘Ecosystem Services’ include the sequestration and storage of carbon, rainfall generation and water storage, moderation of extreme weather, and a habitat for almost half the terrestrial species on earth. Our second initiative, the Forests Now Declaration, issued an urgent call for global action on deforestation in the tropics and sub-tropics. The Declaration calls for a broadening of carbon markets to include forest emissions and new market mechanisms to create positive incentives for forest conservation. The Forests Now Declaration has already been endorsed by over 300 politicians, scientists, conservationists, community and business leaders. Our efforts to raise awareness of the connection between climate change and forest canopies really grabbed global public attention at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali in December 2007. At the Bali conference, the world was hit by an uncomfortable truth: the host nation, Indonesia, had been named as the third biggest carbon emitter on the planet. The primary cause is Indonesia's trees being burnt for land, largely to grow palm oil – destined for consumers in developed nations. Palm oil is in everything from Kit Kats to cleaning products. Poor forested nations argue that we in the West have outsourced our own emissions to them, since our demand for these products is the main driver of deforestation. While huge amounts of capital are invested in global businesses that drive deforestation, this disenfranchises the 1.6 billion of the world’s poorest people who depend on forests for their survival.4 1

www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/stern_review_economics_climate_change Enkvist, P.A, et al (2007). A cost curve for greenhouse gas reduction. Mckinsey Quarterly No 1 3 www.ipcc.ch/about/index.htm 4 World Development Report 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty (2000). Oxford University Press, World Bank. 2

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In a landmark deal in Bali, it was agreed that developing countries with significant forest cover should be assisted to maintain their forests, thereby ensuring the survival of a major carbon sink and preventing it from becoming a major source of carbon emissions. The Global Canopy Programme has been pushing this message since its inception. Now, at last, the issue is generating major political and corporate interest. This new mechanism, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), if approved in 2012 will put a price on the carbon emissions when forests are burned. However, this policy has its limitations. REDD effectively rewards countries that are burning their forests by offering them carbon credits for keeping their forests alive. But countries like Costa Rica and Guyana, and indigenous groups who have patiently protected their forests currently stand to gain little from REDD. Moreover, REDD does not take into account the other Ecosystem Services that forests provide, beyond carbon sequestration and storage. While it would be wrong to say that all indigenous groups are against REDD or that none of them will benefit, we need complementary policies that offer credits or compensation to countries and communities for conserving forests that are not under immediate threat. That is why the Global Canopy Programme has taken the initiative to engage with the financial sector to design new mechanisms to innovate private investment in tropical forests as global utilities serving the world community. These transactions will not only be profitable for investors, but will also deliver sustainable benefits to forest-owning nations and the people who maintain them. In 2007, we worked with the State of Amazonas in Brazil to develop a system of payments for indigenous people who manage their forests sustainably. The Global Canopy Programme is also coordinating a groundbreaking study to evaluate the Ecosystem Services provided by the tropical forests of the Amazon, Congo and Indonesia, and the cost of inaction if nothing is done to halt their destruction. We hope these initiatives will catalyse the creation of a market for forest Ecosystem Services, as well as reinforcing the value of standing forests. It may come sooner than we think. Our approach has gained considerable momentum during the past year, but it will take a sustained effort to deliver agreement on international forest policy by December 2009, when the successor to the Kyoto Protocol must be agreed. Securing the scale of carbon capture needed over the long term requires concerted political will. Despite our continued efforts to raise awareness of the value of forests among Governments and institutional stakeholders, political progress has been painfully slow. It therefore falls to philanthropy and private investors to demonstrate through example that innovative market-based solutions can make a real impact on deforestation now. We are, as ever, immensely grateful to the many charitable foundations and individuals who supported the Global Canopy Programme in 2007. Our portfolio of current projects and initiatives demonstrates the range and scale of our activities. There is no denying that our objectives are ambitious; but relative to the consequences of continued deforestation, they are also pragmatic. Over the last six years, the Global Canopy Programme’s ground-breaking achievements have confirmed that we remain ahead of the pack. We firmly believe that only a bold vision, capable of delivering changes in the way that forests are valued, will give us the time needed to reduce carbon emissions from energy, industry, transport, and other sectors. Forests offer our last, best chance to create that breathing space. The period from now until December 2009 will be one of the most critical periods in history for the world’s forests. To continue our work during this challenging period, we are heavily dependent on the support of charitable trusts and individual donors. We hope to deepen our existing relationships with our key supporters to ensure that the Global Canopy Programme can deliver its mission to protect the planet’s forests, atmosphere and people.

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Key Outcomes in 2007 GCP helps Governor Braga, of Amazonas State explore new financial mechanisms for Rainforests: GCP brokers a meeting between Eduardo Braga, Governor of Brazil’s Amazonas State and Barry Gardiner, UK Minister for Biodiversity and the UK financial sector in London. Braga implements new laws making trading of ecosystem services in his State a possibility, the first law of its kind the world. GCP Canopy SE Asian Training Programme reaches its conclusion: Funded by the Darwin Initiative, this 3 year programme has trained 6 new climbing instructors and more than 70 canopy scientists from the ASEAN region, who have carried out 30 small-scale projects. University of Malaysia Sabah approves a new Canopy science based MSc course as a result. GCP’s ‘Forests First’ Report features on the front page of The Independent (14 May, 2007): This report raises awareness of the importance of forests among the parties to the UN Conventions on Biological Diversity and Climate Change and identifies the practical steps necessary to establish an international trading mechanism for Ecosystem Services. The rainforest and climate change issue is picked up world wide. GCP Participates in the GLOBE Dialogues: The momentum generated by the GCP’s VivoCarbon Initiative begins to deliver results. GCP Executive Director Andrew Mitchell is invited to participate in the GLOBE dialogues on illegal logging and climate change prior to the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. Tony Blair, Angela Merkel and senior figures from forested nations are among the keynote speakers. In a landmark deal, G8 leaders pledge to halve all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Ecosystem Valuation Study Funded: With funding from the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation, GCP commences work with partners in Brazil, UK and Malaysia to make a preliminary estimate of the economic value of the environmental ecosystem services provided to humanity by forests in the Amazon, SE Asian and Congo Basin forests. The first study of its kind – will report next year. GCP Launches the Forests Now Declaration in Amazonas State, Brazil: The first signatories are the AMazonas State Secretary for Environment and an envoy of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the Brazilian Amazon, representing 180 tribes. Sir Michael Somare, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, also signs the Forests Now Declaration at a Clinton Global Initiative event in New York. Forests included in the ‘Bali Road Map’ at the UNFCCC Conference in December. GCP Director Appointed Senior Advisor to the Princes Rainforests Project: Andrew Mitchell is invited to develop a plan for the Prince of Wales’ Rainforests Project (PRP) to bring together environmentalists, scientists and leaders to drive a high-profile campaign to halt deforestation. Prince Charles launches project in 2008. Bornean Clouded Leopard and Flat Headed Cat reclassified as Endangered: GCP Research Associates Andrew Hearn and Joanna Ross attended the International Felid Biology and Conservation Conference and presenting their preliminary findings from the Darwin Initiative funded Bornean Clouded Leopard and Wild Cat Project. This contributed to the reclassification of the flat headed cat and the Bornean clouded leopard as endangered from Vulnerable. Canopy Capital established to drive capital to the rainforest canopy: Creates an investment template for first-movers in an emerging market for Ecosystem Services (including rainfall generation, moderation of extreme weather, carbon storage and biodiversity maintenance). These services benefit humanity at local to global scales. If they are lost, there will be severe impacts on food, energy, and environmental security. Canopy Capital opens negotiations with the Guyana Government and Iwokrama International Conservation Centre.

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GCP Programmes

2007 marked our sixth year. The Global Canopy Programme (GCP) has evolved into an influential alliance of 37 institutions in 19 countries, which lead the world in rainforest canopy research, education and conservation. We have developed a collaborative programme of activities, with a focus on biodiversity, climate change and poverty alleviation. Our collective achievements are regularly featured in prestigious journals such as Science and Nature; and our own communications efforts produced 98 million ‘opportunities to see’ in the international media in 2007. The GCP’s heritage in canopy science, our global network of experts, our high standing among Governments and established relationships in the finance sector place us in a unique position to develop a holistic strategy to stop deforestation. This strategy functions through inter-connected programmes of activity: science, policy, finance and capacity building.

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Science Programme With our worldwide partners, and building on our heritage in forest canopy research, the GCP is drawing together the science to support a global strategy that puts forests at the forefront of the fight against climate change. The cornerstone of all GCP activities is scientific research into the rainforest canopy, one of the world’s largest but least explored ecosystems and a crucial interface between life and the atmosphere. With help from the UK’s Darwin Initiative and the FCO Global Opportunities Fund, GCP operates canopy training programmes to build capacity for fieldwork in Brazil, Malaysia and Britain. The GCP is also a key supporter of Project IBISCA, the world’s most comprehensive assessment of rainforest biodiversity. In 2007, GCP launched a major study of the critical role forests play in the global hydrological cycle. We also continued our efforts to establish the Whole Forest Observatory, a network of research stations in the tropics to monitor biodiversity and the impact of climate change in rainforest canopies.

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Valuation of Forest Canopy Ecosystem Services

Climate change is thrusting the function of forests into the global market. The architecture for a regulated carbon market, which could include forest credits, is now in place. However, until now there has been little effort to integrate science and economics to put a monetary value on the other Ecosystem Services provided by forests, such as rainfall generation and weather moderation. In autumn 2007, inspired by the work of Professor Antonio Nobre of the Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA), GCP launched a major international scoping study to estimate the economic value of the Ecosystem Services provided by the tropical forests of the Amazon, South East Asia and the Congo basin. With funds from the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation environmental economists are working with prominent scientists in Brazil, Indonesia and the UK to determine the value of these Ecosystem Services. Demonstrating their value is the first step in converting these services into tradable commodities. This study will also estimate the cost of inaction if forests continue to be felled. Working with Professor Antonio Nobre from INPA, Warwick Manfrinato from PLANT Ambiental, and Jean Ometto of IGBP, Brazil; Dominic Moran from the Scottish Agricultural College and Professor Mohamed Shahwahid Othman from the Rainforest Academy at the University of Putra Malaysia the GCP published the first draft of its ‘Beyond Carbon’ Paper at the UNFCCC in Bali in December 2007. Initial results were presented at a side event during the conference. The paper sketches out the emerging evidence for the significance of public goods and services from tropical rainforests (such as production of rainfall, storage of carbon). Using evidence from Brazil, Congo and South East Asia the paper suggested how damage to these services, in terms of increasing water costs, will impact on economically significant industrial sectors, as well as increasing human vulnerability. This work is ongoing as we set out to quantify these damage costs is providing us with the basis for an emerging market-based instrument to compensate the provision of rainfall and value of regional to global scale forests ecosystem services. Our aim is for a major study in the future, initially focussed on the Amazon. The Amazon releases around 20 billion tones of water each day Photo ! Antonio Nobre

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Biodiversity at the Heights: IBISCA Queensland Project In 2007, GCP was pleased to support the IBISCA Queensland project, a major international survey of the animal, plant and fungal diversity from canopy to soil in Lamington National Park, Australia. The purpose of this study is to assess and predict the impact of climate change on biodiversity by using insects as indicators of climate change impacts on forests.

The project has completed several major biodiversity field surveys, convened two scientific workshops, hosted an end-user forum and supported a public seminar series. They have conducted 26 different projects involving 48 scientific participants and 71 volunteers. In addition, there has been student participation in each of the major surveys and the education programme has been developed. The final field survey will be held in January 2008 and GCP funds will be used to carry out a Basic Canopy Access Proficiency training course for participants, helping to build further capacity for canopy research in the region. The first comprehensive results from IBISCA Queensland will appear in late 2008 or early 2009.

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Whole Forest Observatories

The largest and most ambitious of GCP’s projects, the Whole Forest Observatories (WFO) initiative proposes a network of research stations to support forest conservation from Brazil to Borneo in the tropics. The Observatories, each with a canopy crane, atmospheric tower, training programme, and portfolio of research projects, would revolutionise capacity for canopy science. To date, research efforts have been hindered by the logistical, technical and financial difficulties of access to the canopy, particularly in developing nations. This infrastructure would also enable the Ecosystem Services provided by tropical forests to be measured, quantified, and valued by scientists and environmental economists, then potentially traded in voluntary markets. We are extremely grateful to the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation, which has pledged $2 million towards the WFO project. This is a great help to leverage further funds. However, despite securing several country and partner endorsements and pledges of funds of $8 million, the WFO project is currently stalled. It has been subjected to numerous delays by the United Nations Global Environment Facility (GEF), which is currently being restructured. Changes within the GEF and GEF’s failure to deliver its pledged $6 million funding for the third consecutive year has meant that a multi-country project is no longer feasible, However, Brazil’s determination to realize the WFO project, with moves by the Ministries of Science and Technology and Environment to fund two Observatories (one in the Amazon and another in the coastal Mata Atlantica forests) could provide renewed momentum for the project as a whole.

4) ‘Bornean Wild Cat and Clouded Leopard Project As part of our ‘High Five’ campaign to raise awareness about endangered canopy species, the GCP continues its efforts in collaboration with the University of Malaysia Sabah and the Sabah Wildlife Department, to protect Borneo’s endangered Wild Cats and Clouded Leopard. This 3-year programme funded by the Defra’s Darwin Initiative 5. Based in the Danum Valley Conservation Area in Borneo, this multi-disciplinary project combines environmental education, training and pioneering research to gather new data about some of the rarest rainforest 5

Camera trap image of a Bornean Clouded Leopard Photo !: GCP/Andrew Hearn and Joanna Ross

The Darwin Initiative of Defra draws on the wealth of biodiversity expertise within the UK to help protect and enhance biodiversity around the world.

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cats in the world. The Bay Cat and Flat-Headed Cat have never been studied in the wild before. Our Camera traps have gathered over 15,000 images of Bornean wildlife, including 210 photographs of the Bornean Clouded Leopards, over 750 photographs of the Leopard Cat, 19 photos of the marbled cat including the first images of a mother and cub marbled Cat. In addition we have 7 photographs of the extremely rare bay cat and the first-ever video footage of the bay cat. In June 2007, GCP organised training courses to build capacity in mammal tracking techniques at the University of Malaysia, Sabah. 30 undergraduate students, two post graduates and one lecturer received training. As a result, the Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation and the University of Malaysia have decided to include this course in their B.Sc. Conservation Biology syllabus. Andrew Hearn, Joanna Ross, Henry Bernard and Daniel Pamin the project’s Principle Investigators presented a poster entitled “Felid Abundance, activity and habitat use in a tropical forest in Sabah Malaysia Borneo” at the International Felid Biology and Conservation Conference, held at the University of Oxford in September. This conference was the first truly international felid conference ever held, bringing together 300 of the world’s felid biologists, and thus provided an excellent opportunity to raise awareness. An IUCN cat specialist group workshop ran in parallel and preliminary findings from this project provided the foundation for the reassessment of the conservation status of the five felid species found on Borneo and the subsequent reclassification (of the flat headed cat and the Bornean sub species of clouded leopard (both previously classified as Vulnerable, now endangered). This project is due to end in October 2009 but due to the high success rate we are now looking at extending the work for a further two years.

Rare and endangered Bornean Bay Cat Photo !: GCP/Andrew Hearn and Joanna Ross

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Policy Programme Over the past year, the GCP has developed a leading profile in the international policy arena related to forests. The realisation that rainforests can slow down climate change, whilst their destruction accelerates it, has resulted in the introduction of rainforests in climate change negotiations. GCP’s leadership role in putting forests on the climate change agenda is now widely recognised. Through our VivoCarbon Initiative, we have favourably influenced the policy framework for forests within the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Through our Forests Now campaign, we successfully lobbied for forests to be included in global carbon markets at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in Bali in December 2007. At the national level, we are working with the Governments of six tropical countries to develop alternative strategies for sustainable forest management. At the regional level, GCP encouraged developing a system of payments for the Ecosystem Services provided by the State Parks of Amazonas, Brazil. In addition, GCP was instrumental in the foundation of the Prince’s Rainforests Project, (www.princesrainforestsproject.org), an initiative launched by the Prince of Wales in October 2007 that is working with Governments, businesses, NGOs and individuals to seek alternatives to the destruction of tropical rainforests. At the December 2007 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in Bali, a historic decision was made that credits for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) could be included in future carbon markets. Forest-owning nations might at last be given a positive economic incentive to leave their forests standing - rather than cut them down. The GCP, alongside the many organisations we work with, has played an important role in galvanising scientific support and raising awareness to help drive through these policy changes. Now the international community has to work out a REDD mechanism by December 2009, for Government ratification in 2012. Factor in the review of the EU Trading Scheme and the changing landscape of American politics during the same period, and the next two years will be pivotal for forests. Consequently, we need to redouble our efforts, using science to influence policy and to drive financial capital to the canopy. Policy debates are dominated by clean energy solutions, but efforts to meet critical carbon reduction targets may be negated unless we tackle emissions from forests with equal urgency.

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The Forests Now Declaration Launched on 10th September 2007, the Forests Now Declaration (www.ForestsNow.org) is a sixpoint action plan that calls on Governments to pave the way for forests to be included in carbon markets, to create incentives for reducing deforestation, and to stimulate trading in Ecosystem Services.

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Amazonas State Secretary for the Environment, Professor Virgilio Viana, signs the forests now declaration in the heart of the Amazon. Photo ! GCP / Lula Sampaio

The Declaration was a huge success attracting support from President Arias of Costa Rica, Prime Minister Somare of Papua New Guinea, and over 30 other influential leaders, scientists and NGO’s. Having travelled from the

Amazon to the carbon capitals of the world. In December 2007, the GCP delivered the Forests Now Declaration to Government leaders assembled at the UNFCCC in Bali. The Declaration served as a convening platform for influential voices across disciplines and gained strong support from tropical forest stakeholders traditionally considered market-averse. Forests Now activities at the UNFCCC included: •

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An event on "Forest Day" during which the "Green Governors" of Amazonas State in Brazil and Aceh and Papua provinces in Indonesia all signed the Forests Now Declaration. A screening of the film "Forests Now: A Global Call to Action", at a reception for some 200 endorsers and delegates. A press conference on Forests Now and progress in the REDD negotiations to a packed auditorium, leading to global media coverage including The Washington Post, Time magazine, and top story on the BBC News website.

The FND media campaign, including a full page in the Financial Times, kindly funded by Sustainable Forestry Management Ltd. Resulted in almost 100 million ‘opportunities to see’ worldwide.

Uncle Sam wielding an axe to one of TFG’s inflatable trees funded by GCP. Featured on the front page of the Washington Post. Photo: ! Tropical Forest Group

The opportunity now is to bring the collective influence of the Forests Now coalition to bear at key moments, with a view to influencing policy in the UN, EU, and the US in the run up to December 2009 when the mechanism for forests will need to be agreed by the UN.

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The Prince’s Rainforests Project Based on a plan developed by the Global Canopy Programme the Prince’s Rainforests Project, was set up in October 2007 by HRH The Prince of Wales. GCP’s Director Andrew Mitchell, as a Senior Advisor to the Prince of Wales’ Rainforests Project and is working with HRH the Prince of Wales to lobby Governments and the private sector to protect the world’s rainforests in the face of acute pressure caused by global spikes in commodity prices and soaring demand for beef, soya and palm oil. "The task is to review, develop and propose practical mechanisms that acknowledge the true value of the ecosystem services provided by the world’s remaining rainforests. These solutions need to provide credible incentives to host nations, and to local communities, and must out-compete the drivers of rainforest destruction.” – HRH The Prince of Wales The GCP is now one of the main operational partners of the Prince’s Rainforests Project. With a team of 15 analysts installed in Clarence House, over the next two years the Prince’s Rainforests Project will keep forests at the forefront of the global environmental agenda, with a special focus on new market mechanisms that can help to save forests see www.princesrainforestsproject.org

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Finance Programme Rainforests are destroyed because they have no value in global markets. Conservation has proved no match for commerce. The multiple environmental services that tropical forests provide to humanity are not yet economically recognised in global markets. Given that this is primarily a market failure, we must look to markets for a solution. GCP has forged partnerships with the financial sector in order to promote market-based solutions and alternative development strategies to discourage deforestation. We are also developing pilot projects with forest-owning nations to establish voluntary markets in Payments for Ecosystem Services, which will not only be profitable for investors but will also deliver sustainable benefits to the countries and communities that maintain them. Financial compensation for avoiding deforestation, once thought impractical, is now back on the political agenda. As a result of the huge growth in the carbon market in the last decade, investors are starting to recognise the value of early investments in the emerging market for Ecosystem Services.

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The VivoCarbon Initiative

Launched in May 2007, the aim of the VivoCarbon Initiative is to test the practicality of setting up a ‘living carbon’ market as part of the post-Kyoto Protocol agreement which will come into effect in 2012. GCP’s VivoCarbon Initiative brings together the financial expertise of the world’s largest carbon and insurance markets in London, with the expertise of those who manage the world’s largest natural carbon bank in the forests of the Brazilian Amazon, Guyana Shield and SE Asia. The objective is to develop a new model for sustainable development by investing in the Ecosystem Services provided by tropical forests. As well as generating income for local communities, this will potentially help to secure millions of hectares of virgin rainforest and the carbon stored within them.

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The Amazonas Initiative

As part of the GCP’s VivoCarbon Initiative, we worked with the State of Amazonas in Brazil, the UK Government and international investors to design innovative market mechanisms that will create positive incentives for sustainable forest management. The State of Amazonas recently demonstrated its commitment to this initiative by passing new legislation authorising Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). The State of Amazonas has successful reduced deforestation over the last three years by 53%. The GCP has proposed a large-scale private sector project designed to invest in this process and so support the provision of ecosystem services generated by the Amazonas State Parks. Revenue generated by the project would From left to right: Dr Wari Iamo, Environment Minister, Papua be spent in support of proven community based and other forest New Guinea; Governor Barnabus Suebu, Papua Province, management measures to protect the services as well as in Indonesia; Governor Irwandi Yusof, Aceh Province, Indonesia; reducing deforestation pressures elsewhere within the State. The Governor Eduardo Braga, Amazonas State, Brazil; Andrew Mitchell, Global Canopy Programme; Virgilio Viana, proposed project would support the Amazonas Initiative as an Environment Secretary, Amazonas State, Brazil. Photo ! example of the ‘large scale pilot schemes called for by the Stern GCP/ Katherine Secoy Review and will inform negotiations leading up to the 2012 Kyoto II round. GCP is assisting Amazonas State to secure major corporate and Governmental support for this initiative. This financial model could be applied in other tropical forest regions. Related discussions with the Governments of Guyana, Indonesia and Malaysia are already underway. Amazonas State is now considering implementing a new

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“Foundation for Sustainability of the Amazon’ and a ‘Bolsa Floresta’ or forest bursary to pay forest communities to protect their forests.

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Driving Capital to the Canopy

In 2007, GCP created a new subsidiary, VivoCarbon Investments, with a 20% stake in Canopy Capital (www.canopycapital.co.uk), a joint venture with investors in Europe led by GCP Trustee Hylton Murray-Philipson to pioneer Payments for Ecosystem Services. The worldwide publicity generated by this ground-breaking initiative suggests that it could revolutionise the way markets value the environment. We aim to demonstrate the rewards of early investment in rainforests through corporate responsibility or innovative banking and insurance products designed to create what President Bill Clinton called “wealth that’s worth having”. Early investors will secure the Ecosystem Service rights, including carbon storage, whilst international market mechanisms and regulatory frameworks develop. At the same time, we are raising awareness in the relevant financial and corporate sectors – such as agri-business and hydro-power - that the risk of doing nothing to halt deforestation poses a real long-term threat to their investments.

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The Climate Tree

Launched at the UNFCC in December 2007, The Climate Tree is a market-based initiative developed by GCP in partnership with the Tropical Forest Trust (www.tropicalforesttrust.com) and the National Wildlife Federation (www.nwf.org). Building on our combined resources, networks and expertise, the Climate Tree tackles the drivers of deforestation on multiple fronts. Its four core programmes are aimed at a) assisting forest owners to sustainably manage their forests, b) planting new forests, c) creating new revenue for standing forests and d) informing national and international policy. Coupled with promoting sustainable soya, oil palm and beef production, the Climate Tree represents a holistic approach to tackling deforestation and increasing the value of intact forests. The Climate Tree is currently working in eight countries with tropical forests - Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Gabon. These forests cover a combined area of over 3 million hectares (6.5 million acres), roughly the size of Belgium. With several multi-national corporations already backing the idea, GCP looks forward to scaling up and diversifying its activities through this initiative in 2008/9.

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Capacity Building 1)

Overseas Canopy Access Training Courses In collaboration with industry experts, GCP has developed specialist canopy access and research training courses, using modern ropebased methods enabling three-dimensional exploration of the forest canopy. These unique courses represent the first integrated attempt to open up the forest canopy for science, exploration and education.

59 scientists and technicians from the ASEAN region have been trained in canopy access techniques. Photo ! GCP / John Pike

GCP Canopy Training courses have also proven to be a constructive tool to engage the Governments of Brazil and Malaysia. We have completed 3-year courses in Brazil and Malaysia. (59 scientists and technicians from Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Singapore, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia were trained in Malaysia, and 110 new leaders in canopy science were trained in Brazil.) As a direct result, both Governments have now established funds for canopy science programmes. In Brazil, two Masters level courses are being introduced at the University of Ouro Preto and the University of Santa Cruz, providing a professional training centre for new canopy scientists. In addition, the ‘Canopy Training School for the ASEAN region’, funded by the UK Government’s Darwin Initiative of DEFRA, has developed the world’s first M.Sc. Canopy Science module. This course, officially accredited by the University of Sabah, Malaysia, is now enrolling its first students.

Training and Education Officer John Pike, who worked tirelessly to develop these training courses, left the GCP in 2007 to become a doctor. But we are pleased to announce that John continues to work with us alongside his colleagues at Canopy Access Ltd.

2)

UK Canopy Access Courses

In 2007, the GCP organised five Basic Canopy Access Proficiency (BCAP) courses in the UK, training a total of 32 students ranging from researchers to wildlife film-makers and bat conservationists. With the generous support of the Dulverton Trust, we were able to offer 23 students engaged in canopy research a grant to help cover the costs of the course. Many of them went on to carry out canopy research overseas. Recent BCAP graduates have gone on to study the nesting behaviour of Orang-utans; plant distribution in the Amazon basin and the study of lichen assemblages of the Caledonian Forest in Scotland.

3)

‘Kids in the Canopy’ High Science Programme

GCP has developed a series of educational workshops in the UK with the generous support of The Ernest Cook Trust. This pilot programme introduces canopy science into the national curriculum in order to educate pupils about the environmental value of forests and to stimulate greater interest in forest-related sciences. In November 2007, the GCP ran the first of four ‘forest immersion’ days with Oxfordshire schools at Harcourt Arboretum. As well as experiencing the thrill of climbing a 60ft cedar, students heard inspirational talks from canopy guides and learnt about local woodland ecology from the education team at Harcourt Arboretum.

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Kids in the canopy days have been a great success. Photo ! John Pike

Other GCP Activities 1)

Forest Canopies in Brazil. China, India and Malaysia – a new resource for sustainable use of biodiversity, the development of ecotourism and canopy horticulture.

With funds from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Global Opportunities Fund, this two-year multi-country project came to its conclusion this year with the final workshop in Malaysia. The aim of the project was to raise awareness of the value and significance of tropical forest canopies and to develop strategies for their sustainable use in order to conserve forest ecosystems and promote sustainable development in areas adjacent to forests, with a focus on India, China, Malaysia and Brazil. In each country significant awareness was raised of the services and values tropical forests provide, through meetings within Governments, national stakeholder meetings, national press coverage and the transfer of expertise to partner countries. Each country now has a strategy for the development of projects, which demonstrate the sustainable use of forest canopies, which will aid in the sustainable development of forests in adjacent human settlements, thereby helping to reduce pressure on the forest environment. During exchanges with project partners the seed was sown to start work on the valuation of tropical forest ecosystems, so that we can demonstrate that standing forests can generate potentially significant revenues through the services that they provide to local, regional and perhaps the global environment – work which now forms a major part of the GCP’s Science Programme

2)

GCP helps ATBC become Carbon Neutral

The GCP worked with the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) the world’s premier association for tropical biologists, to help make the society’s annual meetings carbon neutral. A carbon audit found that with 800 participants the meeting was expected to produce about 1070 metric tonnes of carbon. They have agreed to offset their emissions in Mexico, where the ATBC conference was held in 2007., through the Scol Te project. The Scol Te (‘Tree that grows’) project in Southern Mexico Invests in forest an agricultural systems in rural communities, in order to increase terrestrial carbon storage by replacing monocultures with the sustainable agroforestry.

3)

Valuing Forest Canopy Ecotourism in Brazil and Malaysia

Funded by the Global Opportunities Fund of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth office the GCP compiled and published studies by working with GCP Research Associates, Markus Seibel in Malaysia and Ismael Nobre in Brazil to gain a better understanding of the value of canopy ecotourism in each country, at the enterprise level with initial analyses for the potential for benefit sharing with local communities. Both studies can be found on the GCP web site.

Borneo rainforest at dawn Photo ! GCP / Katherine Secoy

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Communications 1)

Forests First in the Fight Against Climate Change On 14th May we launched our groundbreaking report ‘Forests First’, which stimulated a major feature on the front page of the UK’s Independent National Newspaper. This report seeks to deepen understanding amongst Governmental stakeholders and parties to the UN conventions on Biological Diversity and Climate Change, of the vital roles played by ‘living carbon’ in sustaining life, atmosphere and people. The report has been widely reported throughout the world.

2)

GCP Website

The GCP website has undergone a facelift to reflect the GCP’s new focus on forest ecosystem services and our programmes in Science, Policy and Finance.

3)

Forests Now Website As part of the Forests Now Campaign the GCP has developed a Forests Now portal with information about the Declaration, the full list of endorsers and quotes from key endorsers in support of the Declaration. A short video about the Brazilian launch of the Forests Now Declaration as well as interview with key stakeholders can also be found on the web site. The Declaration’s journey from the Amazon to the UNFCCC Conference of the parties in Bali is tracked. Visit: www.forestsnow.org

4)

Education Boards at Go Ape! The GCP designed and produced environmental education boards for all Go Ape! sites across the UK. They aim to provide the public with information on how forests work and their contribution to the survival of the planet in a stimulating, exciting and informal way. The boards combine plenty of canopy science alongside fun and colourful cartoons. The Go Ape! adventure courses consist of rope bridges, Tarzan swings and zip slides which connect the trees throughout the forest canopy. Go Ape! is a corporate partner of the GCP.

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Publicity The GCP has featured in print around the globe on many occasions over the past year, with some of our publicity listed below. The Forests Now Campaign alone generated 98 million ‘opportunities to see’. 2006 November 2007 March April May

June July

September

Amazon deforestation and climate change Seeking answers to key questions on forest canopy You Can't Keep A Good Man Down The Hidden Cause of Global Warming Deforestation Report International Scientists Endorse Deforestation Initiatives As Blair Leaves Washington, US Hardens Stance on Climate Change Pollution: Surprising Source Deforestation Leading to Global Warming Tree Trade Movement Forests For Life - a consultation Landmark Law Saves Rainforest Borneo Free African forest under threat from sugar cane plantation Canopy Crusaders Can the Amazon pay for its own salvation? Delaracao das Florestas Forests NOW Declaration Forests NOW Declaration Pay Third World to save rainforests, say scientists Support Builds for carbon cash to save forests Call to end deforestation Forests NOW Declaration Including forests in the fight against climate change Scientists from around the world call to end deforestation Forest Nations Press for Carbon Credits Forest Nations Press for Carbon Credits Forest nations press for carbon credits to help cut greenhouse gas Climate stewards signs forests now declaration Forests Now Launch Environmentalists announce support for carbon trading Environmentalists announce support for carbon trading Forest countries seek carbon credits; World's most polluted places named Forest countries seek carbon credits; World's most polluted places named Support for forest credits grows Call for paying Third World countries to save rainforests Forests NOW Forests NOW The carbon sink Credits for protecting forests

ENB ON THE SIDE, UNFCCC DAILY EXPRESS, UK SUNDAY TIMES, UK THE INDEPENDENT, UK ABC NATIONAL RADIO, AUSTRALIA ABC LOCAL RADIO, AUSTRALIA THE INDEPENDENT, UK THE CHARLESTON GAZETTE THE HINDU BUISNESS ONLINE, INDIA NEW SCIENTIST CONSERVATIVE PARTY PAPER, UK POSITIVE NEWS, UK THE TELEGRAPH MAGAZINE, UK THE INDEPENDENT, UK ESCAPE (GO APE MAG), UK THE TODAY PROGRAMME, UK AMAZONIA.ORG, BRAZIL INDUSTRY WATCH THE FINANCIAL TIMES, UK THE DAILY MAIL, UK REUTERS BREAKING NEWS, IRELAND RAINFOREST CONCERN, UK FLORA & FAUNA INTERNATIONAL, UK NEW ZEALAND PRESS ASSOCIATION THE FINANCIAL TIMES, UK THE WORLD BANK MSNBC, USA CLIMATE STEWARDS FORESTS NEWS WATCH MONGABAY.COM FOREST CONSERVATION PORTAL BORNEO ORANGUTAN SURVIVAL UK FINFACTS IRELAND CARBON POSITIVE NEWKERALA HINDUSTAN TIMES, INDIA TIMBER TRADE JOURNAL TEHELKA.COM NEW ENERGY NEWS

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October

November

December

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Jane Goodall joins call for immediate action to curb deforestation Forests NOW Interview with Mike Italiano Tobacco Stains Fire in the Amazon New York City is One of the Biggest Destroyers of the Amazon Rainforest Every country has a role to play in the fight against global warming 3rd Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative Forests Lobby Pushes for more Carbon Credits Not very bright Forestry argues its case Green Groups Sign Forests Declaration Fed: Aust green groups sign forest declaration Media advice for Wednesday Conservation; Rainforest Support The price of a living rainforest Forests Lobby Pushes for more Carbon Credits While politicians fiddle in Bali, the trees are burning Environmentalists Fight Deforestation Clear-cut case for change Clouds Gather in Bali Aceh, Papua, Amazonas governors sign carbon-for-forests pact Governors take action to save rainforests Earning credits for forests REDD alert in Bali over deforestation Deal to fight deforestation agreed at climate talks The Secret Life of Trees Curriculum Vitae Andrew Mitchell Nations to be paid to stave off logging Climate deal sealed by U.S. U-turn Climate Change Compromise Plan Offered at Bali US sets terms for climate talks Pressured U.S. agrees to UN deal on climate; 'Road map' set for new treaty by '09 Climate: Bali deal paves way for new warming agreement Boos, tears and billions - A Bali retrospective Bali Agrees Deal on Deforestation Climate deal marked by US U-turn Paying the green bill

JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE THE HOUSE MAGAZINE, UK HOME FURNISHINGS BUSINESS IN THESE TIMES MACLEANS AXIS OF LOGIC IPP MEDIA LIBERTY CLIMATECHANGECORP.COM BRISTOL EVENING POST, UK ARGUS MEDIA THE AGE AAP NEWSFEED MEDIANET PRESS RELESE WIRE THE ADVERTISER NEW STATESMAN, UK EURO CORRESPHONDENT THE INDEPENDENT, UK ALL AFRICA.COM METRO.CO.UK CHANNEL 4 NEWS, UK MONGABAY.COM THE AGE THE MALAYSIAN STAR THE TELEGRAPH, UK REUTERS TIME MAGAZINE DIRECTOR MAGAZINE THE AGE B92 NEWS WASHINGTON POST, USA BBC NEWS, UK CHICAGO TRIBUNE, USA GREENWIRE TELEGRAPH, UK THE SAUDI GAZETTE NEWS FROM BANGLADESH THE STAR, MALAYSIA

Financial Activities Based on Audited futures for the year ended 30th September 2007

Incoming Resources Breakdown of GCP incoming funds for FY 06/07, totalling £548,613

Resources Expended Total outgoing funds for FY 2006/7, totalling £402,206

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Thanks The GCP would like to extend a warm ‘thank you’ to all our donors who provided us with much needed funds in 2007, without whom none of our work would be possible:

Foundations CHK Charities Dischma Charitable Trust Dulverton Trust Englefield Capital Enough’s Enough Ernest Cook Charitable Trust Ernest Kleinwort Charitable Trust Esmée Fairbairn Charitable Trust Freshfield Foundation HDH Wills Charitable Trust International Trust for Nature Conservation JMG Foundation Lindeth Charitable Trust Millichope Foundation Mr and Mrs JA Pye’s Charitable Settlement Orr Mackintosh Foundation Pilkington Charitable Trust The Broadwall Foundation The Funding Network The Gerald Micklem Charitable Trust The John Ellerman Foundation The Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation The Waterloo Foundation Tusk Trust Wild About Cats Young Presidents Organisation

National Governments

Darwin Initiative, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK Global Opportunities Funds, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK

Corporations AGCP Limited British Airways Plc Discovery Initiatives Go Ape! Heightec Group Plc Libertas Capital Group Plc

Individuals

Hylton Murray Philipson

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The GCP Alliance The GCP operates with the support of the following groups of people Trustees of the Global Canopy Foundation Nigel Winser. Earthwatch Europe, UK Dr William Wint. Oxford University, UK Lindsay Bury

Hylton Murray-Philipson Solicitors. Charles Russell and Co Auditors: Critchleys Chartered Accountants

Steering Committee Professor Dieter Anhuf. University of Passau, Germany Dr Bruno Corbara. Université Blaise-Pascal, France Dr Pierre Charles Dominique. COPAS, France Professor Roger Kitching. Griffith University, Australia Dr Meg Lowman. New College, Florida, USA Dr Rick Meinzer. US Forest Service, USA Professor Cao Min. Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Andrew Mitchell. Global Canopy Programme, UK Dr Nalini Nadkarni. Evergreen State College, USA Dr Tohru Nakashizuka. Institute for Humanity & Nature, Japan Dr Vojtech Novotny. Institute for Entomology, Czech Academy of Sciences Professor Nigel Stork. James Cook University, Australia Dr Joe Wright. Smithsonian, STRI, Panama

GCP Science Advisors Dr Antonio Nobre, (Chief Science Advisor): National Institute for Research in the Amazon, Brazil. Professor Kamal Bawa. President, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, India Professor Jeff Burley. Director, Emeritus, Oxford Forestry Institute, UK Dr John Hemming. CMG, Chairman, Hemming Group, UK Professor Eduard Linsenmair. Theodor Boveri Institute, Biozentrum, Germany Dr Bill Moomaw. (IPCC) Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA

Professor Roelof Oldeman. Wageningen University, The Netherlands Professor Alfred Oteng-Yeboah. Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ghana Sir Ghillean Prance. Director, Emeritus, Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, UK Dr Martin Speight. Zoology Department, Oxford University, UK Sir Crispin Tickell. KCVO, Green College Centre for Environmental Policy and Understanding, Oxford University, UK

WFO Project Partners Brazil: Dr Antonio Nobre. National Institute for Research in the Amazon, Brazil India: Professor Kamal Bawa and Dr T Ganesh. Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment Madagascar: Benjamin Andriamihaja. Madagascan Institute for Conservation of Tropical Environments

Malaysia: Professor Datin Mohamed Maryati and Dr Henry Bernard. Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation Ghana: Dr Andrew Oteng-Amoako and Dr Kwame Adam Forest Research Institute of Ghana

WFO Research Conveners Dr Bruno Corbara. Clermont-Ferrand Montpellier University, France Dr John Gash. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK Professor Roger Kitching. Griffith University, Australia Dr Michael Morecroft. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK

Dr Antonio Nobre. National Institute for Research in the Amazon, Brazil Dr Vojtech Novotny. Institute for Entomology, Czech Academy of Sciences Dr Claire Ozanne. Roehampton University, UK Dr Jan Wolf. University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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Collaborating Institutions •

Ashoka Trust for Research and Ecology in the Environment, India

•

James Cook University, Australia

•

Basel University, Switzerland

•

Madagascan Institute for Conservation of Tropical Environments, Madagascar

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Canopy Operation Permanent Access System (COPAS) /CNRS, France

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Natural Sciences Division, New College, Florida, USA

•

Canopy Consortium, Operation Canopée, France

•

Oxford University Centre for the Environment, UK

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Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK

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Pro-Natura, France

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Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, UK

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Rainforest Academy, University of Putra, Malaysia

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Edinburgh University, UK

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Roehampton University, UK

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Federal University of Ouro Preto, Brazil

•

•

Forest Research Institute of Ghana, Ghana

Royal Society South East Asian Research Programme, UK

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Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama

•

Global Canopy Programme, UK

•

Greenheart Conservation Company Ltd, Canada

•

Stichting Het Kronendak, independent Canopy Foundation,

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Griffith University, Australia

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Wageningen, The Netherlands

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Institute for Humanity and Nature, Japan

•

United Nations Environment Programme

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Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments, USA

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University of Passau, Germany

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University Estadul de Santa Cruz, Brazil

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International Canopy Network, USA

•

•

Institute of Botany, Leipzig University, Germany

Wind River Canopy Crane Research Facility, USA

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World Conservation Society, USA

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WWF, UK

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Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

•

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Institute of Entomology, Czech Academy of Sciences

•

Institute for Research in the Amazon, Brazil

•

Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, University of Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia

GCP Secretariat GCP Staff Update In line with our expanded portfolio of activities in the fields of policy and finance, GCP hired four new staff members in 2007: • • • •

Niki Mardas – Campaigns Coordinator Steven Ripley – Programme Development and Fundraising Manager Mandar Trivedi – Science and Communications Officer Amy Hardingham – Programme Coordinator

GCP said goodbye to Maria Mansfield, Ally Crichton and John Pike and would like to thank them for their dedication to the GCP during their time here.

The Global Canopy Foundation The Global Canopy Foundation is a charitable company limited by guarantee and was set up on the 25th September 2001 (Registered UK Charity No. 1089110). It is governed by Memorandum and Articles of Association. The Foundation’s objects are to promote conservation of the natural environment, and in particular the tropical and temperate forest canopies of the world, through a collaborative programme of research and education. To achieve these objects the charity has established projects in the following core areas: • • • • •

Science (Conservation, and Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Research) Policy (Climate Change and Forest Conservation) Finance (Investigating potential financial mechanisms for payments for Ecosystem services). Capacity Building (Training programmes) Communications and Awareness Raising

The GCP work programmes all aim to define and explore the range and economic value of forest ecosystem services and to share our findings with decision-makers in Government and finance. Time is not on our side as the conversion of ancient forests proceeds apace worldwide. Policy and positive incentive mechanisms based on sound science must urgently be developed to preserve these vital forest utilities for humanity.

Fundraising If you would like any further information on any of our projects, please do not hesitate to contact us. We rely entirely on Grants, Charitable Donations and Corporate Sponsorship in order to keep the GCP office and the projects we support up and running. We are always looking for continued support of our projects as well as establishing new relationships with any potential donors.

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