Last week, Jamie wrote about our Forest Defenders Camp in Sumatra, Indonesia: the frontline of where peatland forest is being cleared for palm oil plantations.
Well, this week our volunteers out there are busy trying to stop the destruction of an area of swamp forest. Working with local communities, they're building dams across the canals that are used in logging and draining peatland.
Thick layers of peat underlie most of Indonesia's swamp forest. Over time, the peat layer has locked up millions of tonnes of carbon. Once forests are cleared, peat swamps are drained and decompose to release the stored carbon as carbon dioxide. Forests are often also burned, prior to the planting of palm oil saplings, further compounding the climate problem.
Indonesia's rainforest is one of the richest, most varied eco-systems on earth-teeming with animals and plant species so numerous that we are still discovering new ones.
Seven years? It's a tall order but we have a cunning plan.
Together with eight other national campaigning organisations, our
Brazilian team have launched an ambitious proposal with a goal
of zero deforestation by 2015.
The plan sets out specific targets that could see deforestation drop
gradually over the next seven years, pushing for a cut of 25 per cent
in the first year compared to figures for 2005/6. It's thinking on a massive
scale, but we believe it can be done - with deforestation rates already falling
and with a concerted effort it really could happen.