CREES Foundation Carbon Offsetting Initiative

Human-induced climate change threatens ecosystems, productivity and the global economy. The world’s most vulnerable people and ecosystems will suffer earliest and most severely from these impacts. Carbon offsetting can help to contribute towards mitigating climate change and foster sustainable development. The CREES Foundation’s carbon offsetting initiative supports farmers in the Peruvian Amazon and aims to provide them with a long term plan for sustainable land use.

The CREES Foundation will work with local communities to plant bananas together with native trees (known as agroforestry) on deforested land. While the trees grow they capture and store carbon, removing it from the atmosphere, and also provide shade and nutrients to the bananas which promotes crop growth and increases yields. Sale of the carbon, crops and timber, funds the project and provides the farmers with sustainable sources of income. The initiative has been designed to go beyond long-term carbon capture by providing additional social, economic, ecosystem and conservation benefits. Oriel College, University of Oxford, are partnering with the CREES Foundation to set up this scheme and have visited the project site to advise on the design of the initiative. Oriel College and other partners in this scheme will help local communities in Peru to improve their livelihoods, develop sustainably and enhance biodiversity.

Click on the image below to open the project PDF (adobe acrobat file) :