The Inca city of Machu Picchu

Many human hands have touched this architectural and spiritual marvel, and the wildlife impacts are apparent. The once-wild Alpaca are now domesticated. The Andean condors revered by the Inca and signified in the ruins are rarely spotted crossing the valley dividing Machu Picchu from its neighboring peak Huayna Picchu.

Yet the natural beauty endures.

The city sits almost at the summit of the mountain and is surrounded on three sides by the Urubamba River. The Quechua word for water is “Yaku.” Civilization has often flourished near rivers because they serve as a source of necessary freshwater, abundant fish, and aqueous superhighways for commerce and transportation. For the Inca and indigenous people who still inhabit the region, Yaku is life.

On the 24th anniversary of the Exxon-Valdez oil disaster, it’s disheartening that 11,500 square miles of the Amazon rainforest beneath these peaks will be auctioned off for oil production. Indigenous groups in the region rely on one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world to provide food, water, shelter, and medicines. The Achua and Quechua people reside in the river basins straddling Ecuador and Peru beneath the Andes Mountains that form the headwaters of the Amazon River.

These people shoulder the most acute cost of inherently dangerous oil exploration in this pristine setting — and they don’t feel the Ecuadorean government is taking their concerns seriously. According to Narcisa Machienta, a leader in the Achua community, “they have not consulted us…they don’t have our permission to exploit our land.”

Unfortunately, the Achua and Quechua know this from experience. Occidental Petroleum began production in the Pastaza River basin in the 1970s. Since that time, Sixto Shapiama of the Quechua community says there have been “constant spills…[T]he sediment at the bottom of the river is completely contaminated.”

Most recently, Argentine oil giant Pluspetrol has fouled the land and waters of the Quechua and Achua.

Urubamba River with hydroelectric generation.

Likewise, BP shareholders received dividend checks even as Gulf fishermen struggled to sell their catch.

In the United States, environmental laws attempt to shift some of the actual impact of oil production to the industry. As a result, BP is liable for response costs, all quantifiable damages, and civil and criminal penalties for its role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The Department of Justice is pursuing claims against BP in federal court. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier has an opportunity to ensure an oil company accounts for the real cost of its business.

The Peruvian government does too. The good news is that the Environment Ministry is finally taking that opportunity: In January, Pluspetrol was issued $11 million in fines for contamination at Peru’s largest crude oil field. Just this week, the Ministry declared the region an environmental state of emergency, ordered Pluspetrol and Occidental to clean up their mess, and set standards to limit soil contamination.

Let’s hope for the sake of the Quechua, the Achua, the Amazon, the condor, clean water, and future generations of honeymooners that the Ecuadorean government follows suit. And for the sake of Floridians, Louisianans, Americans, the Gulf of Mexico, sea turtles, and our children, let’s hope Judge Barbier does too.

Each of the sustainable leather bags comes with it’s own Passport, detailing the products sustainable credentials and traceability.

For decades, fashion designers have looked to wildlife and the natural world for inspiration. Today, however, they’re taking it one step further at Paris Fashion Week. Gucci, the renowned Italian fashion house, is launching the world’s first line of designer handbags made with leather from Rainforest Alliance Certified ranches. These ranches have committed to protect their forests, so purchasing these bags is actually helping to conserve Amazon forest and the wildlife it contains.

National Wildlife Federation has been supporting solutions to deforestation driven by cattle ranching in Brazil for many years. We ran a program of workshops for ranchers in the Amazon, encouraging better environmental practices with Imaflora, Rainforest Alliance’s Brazilian partner. We learned that there was a ranching group, Fazendas São Marcelo Ltda, in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, aiming to be the first in the world to become certified by the Rainforest Alliance, which sets standards for ecosystem conservation as well as animal welfare, water quality and pasture management. The ranch became the first in the world to achieve this certification. However, there was not yet a buyer for the leather.

When we explained the significance of Rainforest Alliance certification to the founders of the Green Carpet Challenge, Lucy Siegle and Livia Firth, they recognized the opportunity and found a willing brand in fashion house Gucci. Once the ranches obtained certification, Gucci set to work producing a line of bags made only with leather traceable back to the certified ranches. The special line of purses announced in Paris includes Gucci’s iconic Jackie bag. They come with a “passport” explaining the journey of the leather and are going on sale in Gucci’s flagship stores around the world.

Stopping Deforestation

Cattle ranchers from the Sao Marcelo Ranch in Brazil. Photo credit: Pisco del Gaiso

Whether you realize it or not, many of the shoes, belts and bags of well-known brands today are made from leather that originates in Brazil and is exported to Italy and China for processing. Many consumers do not understand the link between wildlife, deforestation and the products they see at the store.

You may not be able to afford to buy this new Gucci bag, but you can still support the effort by letting your favorite brands know that you want products free from deforestation and asking where their leather comes from.

While Gucci is first (and only) designer selling products made from Rainforest Alliance-certified  leather, National Wildlife Federation believes this is just the beginning of an exciting new trend.

Brazilian journalists covering Marina Silva’s visit to the U.S. capitol learned her impressions of the 40th anniversary Earth Day rally, where the Senator delivered an inspirational speech to a crowd of thousands this Sunday on the National Mall.

Marina Silva also touched on her special meeting Sunday night with famed Avatar director James Cameron, and discussed her meeting with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, where topics included how Brazil is tackling deforestation and climate change.

Marina Silva, who was born and raised in a remote village of rubber tappers in the western Amazon, is responsible for bringing climate change and forest conservation to the forefront of Brazil’s upcoming presidential campaign. She also notably pressed Brazil to take a leading role in last December’s climate change negotiations in Copenhagen.

Marina Silva has a remarkable story to tell. A public figure respected and admired throughout Brazil, she first learned to read at age 16, worked her way to a post-graduate degree, and became a labor organizer alongside Amazon martyr Chico Mendez. In 1994, Marina Silva became the youngest member ever elected to the Brazilian national Senate. She served as Environment Minister from 2003-2008, during which time she implemented unprecedented environmental protection programs, including the first serious enforcement of laws curbing deforestation and illegal logging.

Marina Silva is a compelling leader in the movement for environmental and social justice in Brazil, and is especially committed to inspiring youth. When asked about her meeting with James Cameron yesterday, she remarked that Avatar has gotten more young people in Brazil talking about their relationship with nature, the rainforest, and the earth than anything else in years.

Related Resources:

• The Economist, 22 April 2010, Another Silva – A celebrated environmentalist pitches for the Presidency
• National Wildlife Federation Climate Change, Deforestation and Agriculture Project
• Follow NWF International on Twitter
• Become a fan of our recent workshop on Solutions to Amazon Deforestation for Cattle on Facebook

Reposted from Forest Justice.

National Wildlife Federation is working to solve a big problem: uncontrolled cattle ranching, which is right now the single biggest cause of rainforest destruction in the Brazilian Amazon, and subsequently, a major source of global warming pollution.

When millions of acres of rainforest are wiped out to make room for cattle or the crops that feed them, it removes a significant CO2 sponge that had been holding carbon in the ground. When the trees are cut or burned, massive amounts of CO2 are released into the atmosphere. Right now, tropical deforestation accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s global warming pollution (PDF) – an amount equivalent to the total emissions of China or the United States, or more than that produced by every car, truck, plane, ship and train on Earth.

A recent article in the newsletter of the Yale School of Forestry tells a stark story.

I interviewed NWF’s international policy expert Barbara Bramble today about an event she hosted at COP15 about what’s being done to address this problem:

I had no idea that the leather boots I’m wearing could very well have come from the hides of cattle being raised on clear-cut land that was once Brazilian rainforest, and may actually have contributed to global warming.

Barbara explained it to me like this:

What can be done? An effort led by NWF and local organizations in the Amazon is underway to improve local law enforcement and develop incentives for ranchers to use sustainable ranching practices that avoid massive deforestation. At the same time, we’re working to educate big retailers who buy huge amounts of leather to make shoes, belts, purses and other popular leather products about the source of their material. If big retailers insist that their leather come from sustainable ranches, and reward responsible ranchers with more business, these products become more valuable, which becomes a win-win for the ranchers and the rainforest.

In August, NWF hosted a roundtable in Brazil that brought together major retailers, leather manufacturers and large ranching operations to discuss the potential for creating a tracking system not unlike the Forest Stewardship Council’s timber tracking system. By tracing leather products back to the actual ranch on which a calf was raised, retailers – and we the customers – can be assured our leather products are not contributing to global warming. Barbara and her colleagues are going back to Brazil in January to continue this important work.

To learn more about about protecting rainforests, go to www.forestjustice.org.

Last year I went to see some of the threats to the Amazon rainforest firsthand with Dr. Tom Lovejoy of The H. John Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment and other activists. Seeing the destruction firsthand made me better understand how precious these forests are and how important it is that we conserve them.

Did you know that 17% of global carbon emissions come from tropical deforestation? What’s even more troubling is that rainforests absorb almost one fifth of global carbon emissions each year. Which is why I agree with Prince Charles: “If we lose the battle against tropical deforestation we lost the battle against climate change.”

And which is why I’m pleased to be a supporter of The Prince’s Rainforest Project. I joined with many leaders in the US to speak in this video on behalf of the rainforests. Over half of the world’s species call the rainforests home. The frog in this video is just one of the countless creatures, including humans, that are depending on us to make sure they have a safe place to live.

I encourage you to add your voice to the many others speaking on behalf of protecting tropical rainforests.  Go to The Prince’s Rainforest Project.

The Associated Press reports:

“Brazil’s environment minister says increased policing brought a sharp drop in Amazon deforestation over the past year, despite a jump in July. Environment Minister Carlos Minc says destruction in the 12-month period through July totalled 4,375 square kilometres (1,689 square miles). He says that is a 46 per cent decline from the same period a year earlier.   Minc said Tuesday that deforestation during all of 2009 – forecast to be around 8,500 square kilometres (3,280 square miles) – will be the smallest amount in 20 years.” See full article.

Robin Turner from the Western Mail reports:

“A process invented thousands of years ago by Amazonian Indians could play a key role in defeating global warming, experts in Wales claim today.

The scientists from Swansea University have established a research group to develop the little-known but potentially planet-saving product Biochar. It is is made when vegetable waste is burned in the absence of oxygen, a process called pyrolysis.

The substance was first discovered in the Amazon where Indians used it to fertilise the rainforest’s nutrient-poor soil, between 2,500 and 6,000 years ago. It is an extremely good fertiliser, because it contains high levels of nutrients vital for plant growth, like nitrogen, phosphate, and calcium. It is also highly porous, which helps soil retain water, and provides a solid environment for various microbes that are beneficial for plant growth. Plus it locks carbon dioxide away, possibly for thousands of years.”

See full article >>