Reforestation in Brazil and protected orangutans in Indonesia: the commitment to compensate for the Green&Blue Festival

To imagine “a land for all”, the motto of the Green&Blue Festival in Rome and Milan from 5 to 8 June, it is necessary that every action taken can be of help in safeguarding the planet, everywhere. Reason why, on the occasion of the Festival, Green&Blue has decided to collaborate with Carbon Credits Consulting (CCC), the first Italian company to develop and manage large forestry projects for the sequestration and reduction of CO₂.

Thanks to this collaboration, the entire event will in fact be compensated through two projects: one in Brazilin the Cerrado, an Amazonian area suffering greatly from deforestation, the other in Indonesia, a country in difficulty due to deforestation and the loss of biodiversity due to the impact of cultivation to obtain palm oil.

CCC, a company based in Bologna, has been engaged in the battle to combat climate change since 2015 and has chosen to do so through projects that generate high-quality carbon credits certified with Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), used for the offsetting corporate emissions. The company, which was also awarded a grant by Moody’s, is the only player present in the Manaus area, the capital of the Brazilian Amazon where a technical office has been set up which collaborates with the Universidade Federal do Amazonas ( FOEN).

To date the company is developing various projects of regeneration of natural ecosystems and reforestation of degraded areas, as well as conservation of native forests. For two years there has also been the promotion of the called projects community basedfor example “the construction of wells for the supply of drinking water to support the populations most vulnerable to the climate crisis” explain from CCC, a company that also operates in South America (in Argentina it is creating a large protected biological corridor) and in Madagascar for the recovery of biodiversity.

The first of the projects through which Green&Blue will compensate its event is called Fazenda Nascente do Luar (FNL) and it is a reforestation initiative in the Cerrado biome in Brazil, considered the tropical savannah with the most biodiversity in the world. This area, impacted by intensive farming and unsustainable agriculture, has one of the highest deforestation rates in Brazil and only 3% of the territory is protected by law.

Through the FNL project – which aims to reforest – the birth of a new type of landscape is developing, “characterized by a mosaic composed of natural forest and planted forest, in which the reforested areas allow the reconnection of the natural savannah, acting as real and its own biological corridors, allowing rapid land cover with the formation of new organic matter that enriches the soil so that wild animals can gradually return to the area” CCC said.

It is a thirty-year project that aims to seize over 25,000 tons of CO₂ equivalent per year. Since the project began in 2015, more than 150,000 have been removed from the atmosphere thanks to 428,375 trees planted. Not only that: the initiative has also created new jobs for local communities and is generating “a strong empowerment through training and learning of knowledge in agroforestry management, resulting in a better quality of life”.

Furthermore, thanks to reforestation, species of birds, reptiles and mammals that were disappearing over time are making a comeback, some of which are considered at risk or vulnerable, such as the puma, the jaguar, the ocelot, the maned wolf, the tapir, the pampas, the giant anteater, the giant armadillo and others.

The second project that the Green&Blue Festival will support through the CCC is that of Rimba Ray REDD+: a pledge to protect native forests at the world’s largest private orangutan sanctuary in Indonesia. In this case it is an area, that of the Rimba Raya Protects, of 47,000 hectares of native forest where there is a struggle to preserve the orangutans: among the protection commitments there is, for example, the stop to oil palm plantations thanks to special protections, as well as the safeguarding of the Tanjung Puting National Park which houses the largest private sanctuary for orangutans. The project started in 2013 and aims – thanks to a team of professionals who work on site – to conserve the flora and fauna of the area with the collaboration of the communities of Borneo and the Central Kalimantan area, with particular attention to the primates of the ‘area. Both projects – it is important to remember this – are certified by the VCS (Verified Carbon Standard) of the US organization Verra.