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Sustainability at CENTR

1 tree for each survey response

Starting from 2021, CENTR has committed to growing a tree for every survey response it receives. It is partnering with WeForest, an organisation based in Brussels that works with communities, local organisations and NGOs to develop scalable reforestation projects, demonstrating how it is possible to mobilize communities and restore our degraded soils.

By supporting WeForest, we aim to do more than simply grow trees, but instead contribute to compensating our carbon footprint and support durable projects that can reforest our planet and help sustain local communities. The trees we grow will be strictly tracked and monitored and have been chosen to have the most impact possible, both in terms of value for the environment, and for the lives of the people living in and around the forests.

For more information on the projects please visit the WeForest website.

weforest video

 

What project will we be supporting?

We will be supporting the Wildlife Corridors project in the Brazil Atlantic Forest, a project that will restore the native forest and reconnect the Morro do Diabo State Park to the Iguaçu National Park. At the same time, this project aims to bring back wildlife, by creating more space and migration routes for animals. Endangered species such as the jaguar, the black lion tamarin and the giant anteater will be able to thrive again. The project will also help the local community make a living and learn to protect their forest.

You can find out more about the project here

 

What is our target?

WeForest dashboard 

WeForest has a wide range of informative FAQs on their website, of which several can be found below:

  • Why do you prioritise tropical regions?
    1. Tropical forests are one of the best carbon sinks.
    2. Forests in the tropics mitigate climate warming through evaporative cooling.
    3. Protecting and restoring biodiversity in tropical forest landscapes is crucial to ensuring a healthy and resilient planet.
    4. People in tropical regions are highly affected by climate change, with climate variability impacting food security, poverty and vulnerability. Our livelihoods programmes support forest-friendly, alternative value chains that benefit both people and forests and which have the potential to alleviate poverty, increase resilience and reduce the pressure on forests.
  • When are our trees planted?
    We usually plant during the rainy season, when the soil provides the best conditions for survival. The time between your sponsorship or donation and the actual tree planting varies depending on the region you support and the time of year. Important project activities – such as growing seedlings in the tree nurseries or providing training – happen all year round.
  • How do we know that our trees are really there?
    1. Our teams at the projects map the reforestation and conservation areas. The maps are recorded in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database to create dedicated restoration areas – or polygons – which are then allocated to our sponsors according to the number of trees funded.
    2. WeForest tracks progress through field monitoring. Permanent monitoring plots are established to be able to track progress over time (see the question How are the restoration sites monitored?).
    3. Our external auditors perform reconciliations between the number of trees invoiced and the number of trees allocated to our sponsors, and they also perform integrity tests of the database where the information is recorded. The stringent process we follow ensures that no polygon or trees can be assigned twice.
  • Do local people earn an income?
    What matters is the long-term survival of the trees, so we engage and train local farmers who earn a stable income from the project and make them stewards of their new forest.
  • Besides funding trees, what can I do to fight climate change?
    1. Eat consciously
    2. Stop or reduce flying
    3. Reduce your energy consumption, or choose green energy
    4. Buy less, more carefully
    5. Offset what you cannot reduce
    6. Vote for a party that prioritises climate action

 

CENTR’s sustainability goals

This initiative fits into CENTR’s wider aim to become more sustainable, and sustainability is one of the pillars of our 2021 strategy. Carbon offsetting schemes go hand in hand with measuring and reducing our own carbon, water and waste footprint. We set up a sustainability taskforce last year, whose main aim is to support CENTR member registries who want to start their own sustainability work and to provide a set of broadly similar metrics, so that members can support and benchmark each other in their efforts.