Take Action NOW to Support Our Global Safety Net
The world's wilderness regions sequester atmospheric carbon and other greenhouse gases, scrub pollutants from the air and water, control weather patterns, and regulate the world's fresh water supplies. As the U.S. government walks away from the Paris Climate Accord, let's remember that these wilderness regions remain the main global "damper" on climate change.
Protecting these areas remains an urgent imperative. It's what FSC has been doing in Ecuador for decades. Their work continues and grows in impact every year, protecting and managing ever-wider areas of these precious ecosystems.
This June, you have a unique opportunity to help FSC raise significant funds to support this work by donating through the crowdsource platform Global Giving. Please consider making a donation, large or small.
*ALL DONATIONS MADE ON JUNE 21st WILL BE MATCHED. All funds raised will support the Cofán's celebrated Park Guard Program that protects the Cofan territory from illegal mining, poaching, and deforestation.
*If the Cofan raise $5,000 from at least 40 donors by June 30th, Global Giving will include FSC permanently on their platform, bringing the Cofan to the attention of over half a million active donors every day.
*For more information on the project and to make a donation, go to: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/protect-an-acre-of-rainforest/
Living in a Dream World
Could Ecuador's Amazon Basin become a dream world free of palm oil plantations built on cleared land, where healthy rain forests, not cattle ranches, win out? Randy Borman and FSC are key leaders of a wide effort to create a Special Region for the entire area, where sustainable use of resources, alternate energy sources, ecotourism, and sale of environmental services are the law of the land.
The coalition working to pass this "Ley Amazonica" (Amazonian Law) includes local governments, scientists, national politicians, and other actors from the private and public sectors. The pieces are coming together, the stars are aligning, and the leadership of the FSC is central to making it all happen. Stay tuned for updates.
Meanwhile, in the Real World
With FSC leadership and guidance, progress continues on making the newly-created Carchi Reserve (reported in the September newsletter) operational and effective. FSC is now also working with two local governments in Imbabura Province on creating new reserves. And in the Cofan community of Zábalo, Park Guards are busy maintaining trails and patrolling the very first ecological reserve that Cofan people created 25 years ago. FSC fundamentals have withstood the test of time and are proving to be what the present and future need!