Birmingham Airport backs Brazilian rainforest project
airport invested £20,000 * to protect 180 acres of endangered forest.
of CO2, equivalent to that produced by the airport’s buildings over 2 years. [no mention of the carbon produced by the planes using the airport, or even its
vehicles].
powered internet and a boat for a school in the heart of the Amazon called Escola
Estadual, which serves communities in a 10-mile radius in the state of Mato Grosso.
to finding ways to mitigate its operations. ** Birmingham Airport is totally
dedicated to this and today’s launch is one of the many ways we are acting on
reducing our global impact whilst helping communities. We’re proud of this joint
partnership and hope it continues to grow from strength to strength.” ***
an area called Democracia, which lies on the northerly bank of the Rio Madeira
or “Wood River” and is right at the frontier of destruction.
the forest the area will be protected for at least the next 25 years, enabling
the local community to harvest produce from it for income and enjoy free access
to 30,000 acres.
launched at Small Heath School and Sixth Form College where students have been
learning about all things Brazilian, including studies in culture, environment,
language and cuisine.
can secure land that would otherwise be sold to loggers and ranchers, pricing
deforestation out of the market.
to keep the carbon where it belongs, ensuring that rainforest communities take
the lead in conservation and get the full benefit of better incomes and security
that standing forest provides. Sponsorship also helps to fund community health
and education services.”
this story comes with a Greenwash warning:
according to
in 2005 (FoE info). This is expected to rise to 3 million tonnes in 2030 (DfT
figures Nov 2007).
down – no extra carbon is actually being stored) of 50,000 is only 5% of the million tonnes produced by planes using the airport each year.
flights).
emitted by around 800 European return flights of 1,000 miles each way (of the
order of Rome return). Which shows the carbon saved by this forest scheme to
be a bit over 1% of the total flights from Birmingham per year.