Cool Earth is a
UK-based international
NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
that protects endangered
rainforest
Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...
in order to combat
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
, protect
ecosystems
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...
and to provide employment for local people.
The organisation receives its income through business partnerships, trust funds and individual contributions from over 50,000 sponsors in order to secure specific tracts of endangered rainforest. Through the Cool Earth website, an individual can donate to support rainforest and
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
communities to protect their rainforest.
In 2015, it was named Charity of the Year in its category at the Civil Society Media Charity Awards
and best International NGO at the PEA Awards.
It is supported by various celebrities including Professor
James Lovelock
James Ephraim Lovelock (26 July 1919 – 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating sys ...
, Dame
Vivienne Westwood
Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.
Westwood came to public notice when she m ...
,
Kelly Hoppen
Kelly Elaine Hoppen (born 28 July 1959) is a South African-born British interior designer, author, and proprietor of Kelly Hoppen Interiors.
From 2013 to 2015, she was a "Dragon" on BBC Two's ''Dragons' Den''.
Family
Kelly Hoppen was born o ...
,
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad' ...
, and
Sir David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
.
History
Cool Earth was founded in 2007 by entrepreneur
Johan Eliasch
Johan Eliasch (born February 1962) is a Swedish-British businessman, investor, and environmentalist. He was the chief executive of Head, a sporting goods company, from 1995 to 2021, and is now its chairman. In 2006, he co-founded Cool Earth, a ...
and MP
Frank Field out of their common interest in protecting the rainforest. They argued that it was unacceptable that the 20% of carbon emissions created by tropical deforestation were ignored by the
Kyoto protocol
The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (part ...
and that urgent, direct action was needed to put a stop to deforestation, lest it take up to twenty years to get an idea adopted by the political bureaucracy.
Activities
Cool Earth's ethos is that the most effective custodians of rainforests are the people who have lived there for generations as they have the most to lose from its destruction. Their approach is to work with indigenous and rainforest-based communities to secure threatened rainforest that, within 18 months or less, would otherwise be sold to loggers and ranchers. The charity provides local people with the support they need to get income from the forest without cutting it down so that the forest is worth more intact. This is done by concentrating on three key areas, these are:
* Forest Protection
* Income Generation
* Partner Support
The provision of resources for these areas enables the building of sustainable livelihoods, better schools, better clinics and the empowerment of partner villages to monitor their forest and secure it from
illegal logging
Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a pro ...
. This basic model used by Cool Earth has been described as "simple but so intelligent" by the Times journalist Deborah Ross.
Cool Earth is currently working alongside 13 partners to protect nearly 100,000 hectares of rainforest across 3 continents. The organisation is currently active in 6 countries: Cambodia, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, and Peru; and has previously finished work in Brazil and Ecuador.
The charity argues that to be selected each project must fulfill the following criteria:
* They are located where rainforest is immediately threatened by human activities like
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars.
Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...
and
cattle ranching
A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...
;
* Their location or their conservation acts as a protective blockade for the forest beyond them, ensuring optimum protection of forests;
* They are mature rainforests with high levels of
biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
.
In Peru the charity is working with two indigenous communities at the frontline of deforestation, the
Ashaninka and the
Awajún.
Cool Earth has been partnered with villages in the Asháninka community since 2008, after they contacted the charity desperate to be able to turn loggers away despite living below the poverty line. The project has expanded to 14 other Asháninka villages and the support from Cool Earth has enabled the villages to carry out activities such as strengthen register community associations, demarcate their community borders, carry out voluntary patrols, enable emergency evacuations, establish a cacao and coffee producers association, provide mosquito nets for every villager, build medical outposts and improve primary schools.
The partnership with the Awajún villages in Northern Peru, near the Ecuadorian border is aiming to protect 56,000 acres of forest. The key activities being supported are the development of cacao production, fish farms and traditional jewellery. The jewellery producers use seeds harvested from the rainforest and their work has inspired Vivienne Westwood’s Gold Label Collection and featured in her Paris fashion show.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the charity has been working since 2014 with five rainforest villages in the remote province of
Maniema
Maniema is one of 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Its capital is Kindu.
Toponymy
Henry Morton Stanley explored the area, calling it Manyema.Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, Vol. One , ...
. Here civil war has resulted in the people living in extreme poverty. So far Cool Earth has helped improve the villages rights over their forest through training of local people in GPS mapping and plotting 600,000 acres of community forest.
Cool Earth's youngest project is in Papua New Guinea and was launched in September 2015. It is working with three indigenous and rainforest coastal villages on the edge of the
palm
Palm most commonly refers to:
* Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand
* Palm plants, of family Arecaceae
**List of Arecaceae genera
* Several other plants known as "palm"
Palm or Palms may also refer to:
Music
* Palm (ba ...
plantation frontier. They are aiming to build sustainable livelihoods to enable the villagers to halt the advance of the palm plantations from the east and protect the pristine rainforest behind.
Cool Earth is one of three bodies supporting The
Queen's Commonwealth Canopy
The Queen's Commonwealth Canopy (QCC) is an initiative begun in 2015 as a network of forest conservation programmes throughout the 54 countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. By 2016, 16 countries had become involved, and by 2019 the number was 4 ...
, a project launched in 2015 to preserve and promote forested areas throughout the Commonwealth.
Criticism
In 2008, Cool Earth's approach was criticized in Brazil by then-President
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party, ...
and TV show ''
Fantástico
''Fantástico'' (originally known as ''Fantástico: O Show da Vida'', Portuguese for ''Fantastic The Show of Life'') is a Brazilian weekly television news program broadcast on Sunday nights on Rede Globo since August 5, 1973, created by José Bo ...
'' for buying up Brazilian rainforest land.
Cool Earth provided a response to clarify that the organisation never has and never will acquire rainforest, instead providing grant funding and technical support to native communities wanting to protect their rainforest. ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' concluded that "the organisation could not buy up the Amazon, even if it wanted to, since much of it is already in public hands"
and also due to Cool Earth's limited financial resources.
Recognition
Cool Earth has been supported by notable people and ambassadors including Professor
James Lovelock
James Ephraim Lovelock (26 July 1919 – 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating sys ...
,
Dame Vivienne Westwood
Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.
Westwood came to public notice when she m ...
,
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress and model. She is best known for her glamour modeling work in ''Playboy'' magazine and for her appearances on the television series ''Baywatch'' (1992–1997).
Anders ...
,
Kate Moss
Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is a British model. Arriving at the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her to fas ...
,
Professor Lord Stern,
Dr Tony Juniper,
Kelly Hoppen
Kelly Elaine Hoppen (born 28 July 1959) is a South African-born British interior designer, author, and proprietor of Kelly Hoppen Interiors.
From 2013 to 2015, she was a "Dragon" on BBC Two's ''Dragons' Den''.
Family
Kelly Hoppen was born o ...
, Leah Wood,
Nick Baker,
Gillian Burke
Gillian Burke (born ) is a natural history television programme producer and voiceover artist, and has been a co-presenter of the BBC nature series ''Springwatch'' and its spin-offs since 2017.
Career
Burke studied biology at Bristol Univers ...
and
Dr John Hemming.
In 2015, it was named Charity of the Year in its category at the Civil Society Media Charity Awards
and best International NGO at the PEA Awards.
In 2016, a detailed external evaluation of Cool Earth undertaken by
Giving What We Can
Giving What We Can (GWWC) is an effective altruism-associated organisation whose members pledge to give at least 10% of their income to effective charities. It was founded at Oxford University in 2009 by the philosopher Toby Ord, physician-in- ...
found Cool Earth to be the most
cost-effective
Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is a form of economic analysis that compares the relative costs and outcomes (effects) of different courses of action. Cost-effectiveness analysis is distinct from cost–benefit analysis, which assigns a monetar ...
charity working on mitigating climate change through direct action. The report concluded: "Cool Earth is overall the most cost-effective climate change charity which can reliably reduce emissions without risk."
As of January 2021, Cool Earth is not yet rated by
Charity Navigator
Charity Navigator is a charity assessment organization that evaluates hundreds of thousands of charitable organizations based in the United States, operating as a free 501(c)(3) organization. It provides insights into a nonprofit’s financial s ...
.
See also
*
Eden Reforestation Projects
References
{{reflist, colwidth=30em
External links
Cool Earth
Charities based in Cornwall
Climate change organisations based in the United Kingdom
Forest conservation organizations
Foreign charities operating in Peru
Foreign charities operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Foreign charities operating in Papua New Guinea