We appreciate forests as the lungs of our planet, as storehouses for excess carbon, as guardians of biodiversity and as places of beauty. We want to preserve forests and we embrace market processes such as carbon credit financing. However it's not that simple.

The conflict between a country’s need for economic development through exploitation of national resources, and the need to minimize environmental degradation for the safety of local and planet-wide populations is extremely relevant to carbon sequestration projects, especially REDD.  For Indigenous People, the forest represents both habitat, and a source of income, food, shelter and cultural identity. For farmers, the absence of a forest can represent their ability to survive by raising crops and livestock, or for businesses to finance and create cash crops. For governments, logging concessions promote jobs, taxes and increasing local development. It is in the context of sustainable economic development, food security and poverty reduction that we see the development of carbon credits from forests. 

We prefer projects which promise to preserve old growth forest, reduce the exploitation of unique flora and fauna, reduce the impact of global warming, don`t require a food or fuel tradeoff, and offer a balanced approach to maintaining a traditional way of life with the need to reduce poverty through economic development.