SAVING FORESTS

Protecting standing forests and slowing forest loss reduces the amount of greenhouse gases, especially CO2 released into the atmosphere. Reforesting and restoring degraded lands also reduces those emissions, since trees sequester carbon as they grow. Below are CI’s Forest Carbon Projects already underway. Nine more are just getting started in the Philippines, Peru, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Liberia, Indonesia, and Colombia.

Makira Forest Project, Madagascar
We’re working with the government of Madagascar and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Madagascar’s northeastern forests to reduce deforestation across the 4,600-square-kilometer region.

Mantadia Corridor Project, Madagascar
In close partnership with the government of Madagascar and local communities, we’ve designed and implemented a second Forest Carbon Project in Madagascar. In the Mantadia Corridor Project, more than 425,000 hectares of standing rain forests are being protected, while another 5,000 hectares of previously degraded land are being reforested with native species and fruit gardens.

Tengchong Forest Project, China
In Yunnan Province, we’re working alongside the Yunnan Forestry Department and The Nature Conservancy on the first small-scale forestry project to meet strict Kyoto Protocol requirements for curbing climate change. The project will restore 467 hectares of mixed-use native forests and sequester an estimated 167,000 tons of CO2 over its 30-year life.

Chocó-Manabí Corridor Project, Ecuador
A group of partners, including CI and the Maquipucuna Foundation, created the project known as ChoCO2 to reforest at least 265 hectares of degraded pasture land in the western foothills of Ecuador. Together, we’ll plant a mixture of 15 native tree species on former ranch lands, reconnecting existing forests to facilitate species migration as local climate conditions change.

PROTECTING OCEANS

Climate change is impacting our oceans by melting the poles, changing major ocean current systems, warming waters, raising sea levels, and making the ocean more acidic. Those change are serious threats to marine life and the natural resources that millions of people worldwide depend on. CI is working with communities, governments, and partner organizations around the world, including:

Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Off the coast of western Papua in the region of Raja Ampat, CI researchers have found generally healthy coral populations that appear resistant to bleaching and other problems caused by warmer ocean temperatures stemming from climate change. Led by CI specialist Mark Erdmann, we’re learning what causes this phenomenon and how we can help other coral populations adapt in similar ways.

Colombia's Seaflower Reserve
In the largest marine protected area in the Caribbean, CI is administering funds to Colombian government agencies to integrate adaptation strategies into their management of the area. To better help marine plants and animals adapt to climate change, they’re establishing priority no-entry and no-take zones, helping communities enforce the rules, developing management plans for low-lying and remote cays, monitoring beaches, and assessing key ecosystems and resources. The effort demonstrates the simple ways communities dependent on marine resources can adapt to the anticipated impacts of climate change.

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
CI researchers have studied the impacts of El Niño and climate change in the marine habitats of the Galapagos Islands. The Global Marine Species Assessment recently found that coral and algae species in the Galapagos are highly endangered due to a combination of climate change and over-fishing.

Asia's Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape
In Southeast Asia’s Sulu and Sulawesi seas, CI and partners are raising money to research a large marine region that spans three countries. Specifically, research will focus on how climate change will affect sea turtles. We’ll study how rising seas will impact sea turtle nests, what warmer sand temperatures will mean for hatchlings, and whether changes in water currents will affect turtle migrations.

Madagascar
CI is helping conduct a widespread assessment of Madagascar to determine how vulnerable the country’s land and water truly are in the face of climate change. The results of the assessment, slated for release in June 2008, will inform future conservation initiatives.