TreeBanker's Blog

A Model for Reducing Illegal Logging in REDD Projects

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:07:48 +0000

While most people considered the COP 15 in Copenhagen a bust, there was one clear winner. Forestry carbon projects. I could go on and on about the value of the forests, the biodiversity, the rights of indigenous forest people, etc. but I’m guessing that you’re already fully aware of all of those issues. I’ll also skip over the estimate that deforestation produces 17% of all of the greenhouse gasses emitted into the atmosphere.

At COP 15 the only significant point of agreement among the delegates was the need to stop, or at least slow the deforestation of the planet, and that the carbon market should become a useful tool to achieve that goal.

At the Copenhagen talks, nations promised a $3.5 billion international scheme to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), with the U.S. alone pledging $1 billion, according to Reuters reports.

Unfortunately you don’t have to look very far to find examples of scams associated with forestry carbon projects, and, right along side those stories you’ll find legitimate concerns about leakage from illegal loggers.

Leakage occurs when emissions reductions at one site or point of time, indirectly drive increased emissions from another activity outside the project boundary. For example, if a forestry project limits logging in one area, developers should consider the possibility that deforestation will simply occur elsewhere.

Voluntary Carbon Markets p.21

Hard statistics about the extent of illegal logging are hard to come by. An EU Forest Watch Report produced by FERN.org in 2001 published the following statistics for four major timber exporting countries. These statistics estimate exports that came from illegal logging activities:

Brazil:80%
Source: Brazilian Secretariat for Strategic Affairs (1997)

Indonesia:73%
Source: Indonesia-UK Tropical Forest Management Programme (2000)
‘Roundwood Supply and Demand in the Forest Sector in Indonesia’.

Malaysia:35%
Source: WWF (1995) ‘Bad Harvest’.

Cameroon:50%
Source: World Resources Institute (2000) ‘An Overview of Logging
in Cameroon’.

Obviously there is a market for this lumber. I think there’s a lot of looking the other way all along the entire supply chain. How much interest would there be if all of the lumber was transparently separated into two classes? LEGALLY HARVESTED and ILLEGALLY HARVESTED

Obviously policies have to be implemented in both the exporting and importing countries to change these statistics.

The point I’m trying to make is that the carbon market has the potential to fund the protection of these valuable assets. REDD lays the foundation for using carbon credit funds to protect forests, especially rainforests.

According to the UN REDD Program website,

“REDD – Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries – is an effort to create a financial value for the carbon stored in forests, offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development.”

The key here is “create financial value”. If this new market designates the rainforests as a valuable asset then it obviously has to be protected.

Since such a large percentage of the deforestation is from illegal logging it stands to reason that a percentage of those funds should be used to protect the forests from those activities.

A story posted in the NY Times describes how a forestry carbon project developer in Indonesia is employing former rebel soldiers and retraining them as park rangers.

Rainforest authority MongaBay.com recently published an article describing how a group of organizations in Africa have come together to develop a model to reduce illegal wildlife trading .

An associate of ours is about to release a new, user-friendly visual accounting system that will add unprecedented transparency to projects and give these grassroots initiatives the tools they need to collect evidence that will help bring illegal loggers to justice.

By capitalizing and duplicating ideas like these with carbon credit funds the forests of the planet will be protected.

A world-wide carbon market is coming. Like any other market, the power to direct the market will be in the hands of the purchasers. Will they choose to buy credits from transparent, ethical sources or will it be the hurried, “Give me whatever you’ve got!!!”

Transparency, community development, and biodiversity protection add value to carbon credits on the voluntary market, hopefully the compliance market will follow that lead and price credits based on co-benefits… but… that’s a subject for another post.

WWF Proposes “Zero Net Deforestation” by 2020

admin — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:12:41 +0000

Zero net deforestation by 2020

WWF will highlight the urgency of global leaders committing to a zero net deforestation by 2020 target at the XIIIth World Forestry Congress, being held October 18th – 23rd 2009.

This includes a complementary climate change target of reducing gross forest-based greenhouse gas emissions by at least 75 per cent by 2020. Together these targets set a global benchmark for success in tackling the problem of deforestation at the scale and pace needed to prevent runaway climate change and avoid a catastrophic decline in biodiversity.

Three-toed Sloth, Atlantic Forest, Brazil © Chris Townend/ Birdseekers,
from the surfbirds galleries

“Zero Net deforestation” can be distinguished from “zero deforestation”, which means no deforestation anywhere. The “zero net” target acknowledges that some forest loss could be offset by forest restoration. In other words, Zero net deforestation is not synonymous with a total prohibition on forest clearing. Rather, it leaves room for change in the configuration of the land-use mosaic, provided the net quantity, quality and carbon density of forests is maintained.

It recognizes that, in some circumstances, conversion of forests in one site may contribute to the sustainable development and conservation of the wider landscape (e.g. reducing livestock grazing in a protected area may require conversion of forest areas in the buffer zone to provide farmland to local communities).

However, to maximize the conservation of biodiversity and the reduction of GHG emissions we need to conserve as much of the world’s remaining natural forests as possible.

Zero Net Deforestation by 2020 needs also to be translated into a GHG emission reduction target. As forest destruction is responsible for close to 20 % of global emissions, it is imperative that action to reduce emissions from deforestation be taken as part of the Copenhagen Agreement. This must be done in a manner that promotes the protection of biodiversity and fully respects the rights of local and indigenous peoples. Countries should commit to reducing gross forest-based greenhouse gas emissions by at least 75% by 2020.

WWF is calling for a zero net deforestation by 2020 policy because:
• Deforestation has dire consequences on biodiversity, the climate and people
• This target will enhance international efforts and processes linked to biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, and protection and sustainable management of forests
• To prevent runaway climate change, greenhouse gas emission rates must peak before 2020 and decline to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.
• With an annual reduction of 10% of the current global deforestation rate, the world can achieve zero deforestation by 2020
• It is expected that a REDD mechanism will become operational with the start of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol in 2013. This will give a period of eight years during which the mechanism can contribute to the 2020 target.

For more information, visit http://assets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_2020_zero_net_deforest_brief.pdf

Atlantic Forests – An emblem of change

Achieving zero net deforestation in the Atlantic Forest will remove a critical threat to this highly fragmented forest.

The forest is a unique area home to an extraordinary variety of plants and animal life. It hosts more than 20,000 plants species – of which 8,000 can be found nowhere else – and 1,000 bird species, 372 amphibians, 350 types of fish, 197 types of reptiles, and 270 mammals.

Though it initially spanned 500,000 square kilometres, shared between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, only 7.4 percent of the forest is left today – or about 35,000 square kilometres. This makes it one of the most threatened subtropical forests in the world.

Agricultural expansion, construction, growth of cities, and non-sustainable exploitation of the forest have led to the vast deforestation of the Atlantic Forest.

For more information, visit http://www.panda.org/about_our_earth/ecoregions/atlantic_forests.cfm or http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/how_we_work/conservation/forests/

Borneo is Burning… Who Cares?

admin — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:03:41 +0000

*RAGING **FOREST** FIRES THREATEN WILD ORANGUTANS IN **BORNEO***

Forest fires are breaking out in the Sabangau peat-swamp forests in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, threatening the lives of the estimated 8,000 wild orangutans living here. This is exceptionally worrying during times of extreme drought caused by El Niño. This year Borneo is once again firmly in the grip of such a drought. During previous El Niño years several hundred thousand hectares of primary rainforest burnt in this area, destroying the habitat of thousands of orangutans and other endangered plants and wildlife. According to Dr. Suwido Limin, Director of the Indonesian peatland conservation organisation CIMTROP, management of the forest by forestry companies over the last forty years has led to the loss of forest rights for local people. In order to restore the local community’s engagement with the forest, these rights need to be returned.

Dr. Limin has witnessed out of contol fires many times before and is concerned that 2009 will see a repeat. He has spent the last twenty years studying and protecting this unique ecosystem and knows very well the risks involved. “These fires have started as a result of human actions; newcomers to the area have attempted to follow traditional Dayak farming methods for land clearance but they lack the experience to control the fires they start. When peat dries out it burns very easily and at great temperatures. Once these fires take hold, they burn and burn and can be almost impossible to put out until the rains come again. In that time huge areas of forest and irreplaceable peat deposits may be lost”.

Peatland fires are not only a major threat to the natural environment and the many species that live here but also to the health of the local population due to smoke inhalation. Nationally, huge clouds of smoke are blacking out the sun, affecting air and sea traffic and potentially causing millions of dollars of lost revenue. On a global scale, they are one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute significantly to rising global temperatures and hence climate change.

To try and prevent this happening, CIMTROP run a rapid-response fire-fighting team (locally known as the Tim Serbu Api, or TSA) to tackle fires as soon as they are reported and before they get out of control. The team monitors an area of 100,000 hectares and is made up of local people who have received training and equipment from CIMTROP and are ready to be called upon when fires break out. But, as Dr. Limin reports, this is a hazardous job. “Peat fires are unique as they spread below the surface, on average 20-30cm below ground but sometimes as deep as 60cm, which makes fighting them both dangerous and unpredictable. You can put out fire in one place and then flames suddenly shoot up behind you.”

One fire hotspot is Kalampangan which borders both the NLPSF (the Natural Laboratory for Peat Swamp Forest), an international research site established by CIMTROP, and Sabangau National Park – home to the world’s largest orang-utan population. CIMTROP’s fire-fighting team have been battling fires in Kalampangan non-stop for the past ten days and will continue to monitor the fires until the rains come. Local residents report the fire took hold incredibly quickly, raging through the tinder-dry vegetation, decimating all in its path and burning down into the peat. Here orangutan sleeping nests can be seen in trees shrouded in smoke and rhinoceros hornbills fly through the haze overhead. On the ground, the TSA create fire breaks and pump water from nearby canals and bore-holes onto the fires. Bore-holes often need to be twenty meters or more deep to access sufficient water to tackle the fire, taking up to six hours and teams of three or four trained workers to dig. Extinguishing just one square metre of burning peat takes two to three hundred litres of water.

Alim, a long-term TSA team member, is enthusiastic to talk about their work and what they need. “We use water pumps and special fire-fighting hose to carry water from the water bores and canals to the burning areas. At the moment, we have twenty TSA rapid-response fire suppression team members, all fully trained specialists in fighting peat fires. They work alongside ten more people split between the River Patrol Team (Tim Patroli), which carry out daily patrols along the boundary of the NLPSF using the Sabangau river, and the TSA Ground Patrol Unit who use motorbikes to monitor the forest from the land. All our teams keep in contact with each other using two-way radios. Of course, it would be great if we could have more equipment so we can cover more ground. Ideally, I would like sixty permanent TSA members so we can set up more fire-fighting points working simultaneously in this fire hotspot while also allowing the team to get some rest! We need more water pumps, lots more hose and permanent bore-hole sites so we can channel water to burning areas more easily. Unfortunately, one of our patrol bikes was destroyed in the Kalampangan fire making patrolling much harder.”

Dr. Limin is proud of his team and their dedication in such difficult conditions. In 2006 they battled successfully for five months to save an area of pristine forest, and he expects a similar commitment this time around. But he echoes Alim’s calls for more equipment and personnel. “It is difficult to maintain funding for the TSA over the long-term because major fires occur maybe once every three or four years. We need to have the capacity to guarantee income and operational costs for the TSA and Tim Patroli and have funds permanently available for immediate use when fire hits. Disasters do not wait while mitigation strategies are discussed and put in place; they hit hard and fast, with little warning. We rely on donations, and are very grateful for the financial support we receive, but at the moment we simply don’t have the resources we need to tackle all the fires that are starting.”

Ref: Harrison M. E., Page S. E. and Limin S. H. (2009) The global impact of Indonesian forest fires. Biologist 56 (3): 156-163

Will The Markets Green the Earth or the NGOs?

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:54:40 +0000

Anyone that follows me on Twitter knows that the bulk of my material comes from “Green” news sources, which I study every day. I, in turn, pass along the stories that I think my followers will find interesting. One of my favorite sources is Environmental Markets Newsletter from John J Lothian & Co.

Today’s newsletter was prefaced with a commentary that I’ve been thinking about writing myself. I have these same conversations on an on-going basis and, since the editor of EMN took the time to articulate it so well today I thought I’d pass it along.

From time to time, depending on the cocktail hour company, I get a question or discuss the topic of environmental activist groups. Usually, that starts and ends with the likes of Greenpeace. I generally don’t have much of an opinion about Greenpeace but have increasingly felt myself – a follower of the market-based approach to global warming – pulling further away from such organizations. And then I saw the publicity stunt with Greenpeace draping a banner from Mount Rushmore calling on Obama to stop global warming while he attended the G-8 Meeting in Italy. As I read the ridiculous press releases from Greenpeace about what a wake-up call it was the country, I felt an even stronger disconnect.
Finally, I listened to a podcast from Bill Moyers Journal, “Obama and Environmentalists” http://bit.ly/26kDCC where he interviewed Mary Sweeters of Greenpeace USA and Erich Pica of Friends of the Earth about why they oppose the Waxman-Markey legislation. What irritated me more than anything is the complete disconnect these two people have with the political realities facing Obama and the rest of the world. While I’ll be the first to support their position that the current legislation does not seem to go far enough to address the scientific community’s call for fast and meaningful action on climate change, it shouldn’t be rejected as they suggest. But what is more infuriating about groups such as Greenpeace and others is that they often have no other practical plan to put forward. They’re the same as the ultra conservatives on the right that oppose the changes suggested but then fail to come up with new ideas that could shape the debate.
As I listened to Sweeters and Pica say that Obama just needs to twist more arms and be out in front of the American people on the issue, the fact is that isn’t an alternative plan.
So I’ve chosen to ignore much of that noise because they are not contributing to the legislation currently in the pipeline but they are doing a swell job of marginalizing themselves.

In the movie ‘HOME’, one of the narrators repeats, “It’s too late to be a pessimist.” I’d like to add, “It’s too late to point fingers without offering meaningful solutions.”

Bombs & Weddings in Jakarta

admin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 05:17:28 +0000

When we first decided the get in the rainforest protection and replanting business we knew it would be full of adventure and memorable experiences. I have to be honest though, we never expected to be so close to a terrorist bombing, or reassured by a bunch of strangers so quickly after the fact.

On Friday morning we were commuting to our office in Jakarta when our business partner received a call on his cell phone. He was told that there had been a bombing in Jakarta but that he didn’t have any details. As we continued our drive into the city his phone continued to ring with more details. At one point he told us, “It happened near the office, I don’t know if we’ll be able to get in.”

It’s a little hard to describe the feeling of being chauffeured in a brand new Mercedes-Benz through back roads of a developing country toward an office in a completely modern office building near where a terrorist bomb had just blown up. I think it’s the closest thing to the Twilight Zone I’ve ever been. It will stick with me for a long time.

As we moved closer to the office the traffic slowed to a crawl. “It’s unusually heavy for this time of the day.” we were told. The phone kept ringing with regular updates: “Everyone in our office is fine.”, “They think it was the opposition party trying to make things hard for the newly re-elected president.”, “This is really going to hurt Indonesia’s economy.”

Closer still and the police presence increased. It struck me that the police were watching for unusual vehicles and activity, and a brand new black Mercedes-Benz wasn’t considered suspicious in a developing country. This is a country of stark contrasts and we were firmly established as normal in it. When we finally arrived at our office building the our security guards actually seemed a little relieved to see us, and immediately let us in. When we got up to the office the rest of the team was watching CNN. I went to my office to set up my laptop and start sending out reassuring emails to family and friends. One of our associates came in to ask if we felt ok about being so close to the bombing. I asked if we were close enough to see the buildings where the bombing occurred. They opened the blinds and said, “Yeah, it’s those two buildings right there…” they’re less than 1/4 mile away, the windows in my office open directly toward them. Jocelyne and I are pretty tough about this sort of thing but we looked at each other and said, “Oh, Shit!”

We spent the next few hours emailing, Skyping, watching the news and talking with the team about what this meant for all of us. “No body will feel bad if you decide to leave.” we were told. “This will reduce the competition” we half-joked. After a few hours our business partners asked us to sit down in the Managing Director’s office to discuss this seriously. “How do you guys really feel about this?”, “We really will understand if you want to leave for a while.”… We said, “No… If this does affect your economy negatively then there will be even more pressure on the rainforests. If this does scare away investors then it’s even more important that we stay and push forward with this project.” One of our associates thought about it for a few seconds then said, “Thank you; Let’s get some dinner. We should eat close by, their business will be hurt by this. They need our support.”

That simple conversation proved something to all of us. We were all here to help and nothing is going to get in our way. That was the last we spoke about the bombing that day.

Early the next morning the phone rang, “With all the excitement about the bombing yesterday I completely forgot about the wedding today! If you can be ready in 30 minutes you can ride with my sister.” (whose guest house we’re currently staying in) Sure enough 30 minutes later we were on an adventure deep into the heart of Jakarta, with no idea what to expect.

The one hour ride with our host’s sister was incredibly informative. She described in detail the political history of Indonesia and the public’s opinion about the terrorist bombings that have occurred over the years.She described the struggle for political power and the Indonesian public’s yearning for free-market democracy. “We’re stuck between the dream of having full control of our own destinies and a minority who want to control everything and are willing to sacrifice innocent people in order to be heard. The only reason they exploded their bombs in those prominent hotels is because of the press coverage their actions would receive.” She went on to add, “The vast majority of Indonesians want westerners to come to Indonesia. We all know how important their technology and ideas are for the growth of our country. We ALL want that growth.”

The second we walked in the door of the wedding hall we knew we were in for a treat. Girls in elaborate traditional costumes were signing in guests, and insisting on email addresses. Everywhere you looked there we families dressed in what I call “team colors.” Our host gave me another quick lesson in Indonesian culture. “Our nation has hundreds of distinct cultures. Weddings give everyone an opportunity to demonstrate their uniqueness.” The contrast between the families’ attire was remarkable. I was immediately reminded of the idea of a tropical coral reef with schools of completely different colored and textured fish moving in all different directions. “This is a good example of why we’re so accepting of of differences here… Our nation is composed of so many different cultures, we just automatically accept people for who they are.

Even though there we many people dressed in contemporary western attire we were obviously the only westerners in attendance. Jocelyne’s waist length blond hair and the fact that I’m about a foot taller than everyone else in the room left no doubt.

As our hosts began introducing us around it became obvious that people were just as interested in us as we were in them. “Welcome to Indonesia!” followed by genuine interest in why we’re here, where we’re working in the nation, is this our first trip to Indonesia, how were we enjoying our visit? The subject of the bombing, still only 24 hours old, rarely came up. When it did I was a little surprised by the response. There was actually a sense of embarrassment… and apology. “I hope the bombing didn’t inconvenience you in any way.” was the common theme, and a very sincere “I hope you always feel welcome in our country.” As we filled our plates and began looking for a place to sit, it became obvious that the sense of welcome was genuine, even among people we hadn’t met yet. I tend to gauge the sentiment of a culture by what I refer to as “The Grandmas”… in this case the older ladies that don’t speak english, dressed in their traditional dresses. I know I shouldn’t be surprised any more but it was so nice to see their welcoming eyes and the speed at which they offered us seats next to them. The language barrier didn’t matter to either of us… we are welcome in their world.

In our 30 minute rush to prepare for the wedding we forgot our good camera. Unfortunately we were reduced to taking pictures with with our cell phones. I promise we won’t make that mistake again. Our host told us that as we spend more time here in Indonesia we’ll be invited to lots of weddings.
The costumes and pageantry of the wedding was really incredible. The best way to get a sense of it is to check out Jocelyne’s facebook page.”>Jocelyne’s facebook page.

Life goes on here as the authorities try to figure out the motivation of the bombers. One thing is clear in our minds. The Indonesians want us here.

Meeting Our Community Development Team in Indonesia

admin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 06:58:39 +0000

Earlier this week we drove to the city of Bandung, the capital of West Java Indonesia to meet with local community development experts.

The Jakarta-to-Bandung highway we drove on was just as nice as any major highway in the US. The two hour drive gave us a little better idea of what the countryside looks like outside of Jakarta. As the scenery started to open up, Jocelyne and I started to mention how pretty the mountains and the terraced small farms were, our host and business partner smiled and told us, “On a scale of one to ten, all of this is about 2.5.” I asked, “Will we have time to see any ‘tens’ while we’re here?” He broke into a huge, proud grin and teasingly remarked, “We’ll see.”

As soon as we exited the highway we were immediately back in the urban traffic snarl that everyone here obviously takes for granted. Moving through traffic like this really is an interesting experience. It’s like a slow motion dance of thousands cars and trucks where everyone respects everyone else’s space while actively trying to move as quickly as possible in pretty much the same direction… while pretty much ignoring the lane marking lines, and blocking lanes to make u-turns without turning lanes. All of this with very few traffic lights or traffic police… or signs for that matter. Next throw in the fact that they drive on the left side of the road, and throw in a few million small motorbikes that split lanes and weave in and out of the slow moving cars and trucks pretty effortlessly. In spite of the controlled, almost choreographed chaos there’s an almost peaceful resolve that this is just how it is supposed to be and nobody ever shows any signs of anger. I even noticed that very few vehicles have any body damage. I asked our host about the frequency of accidents, he told us that motor vehicle accidents were very rare. The collective driving skill is truly impressive, especially the motorcycle riders. They seem to operate under a completely different set of rules. They willingly trade their ability to effortlessly cut in and out of slow traffic for the acceptance of the fact that cars are constantly cutting them off. It’s as if the car and truck drivers know the motorcycles can and will either slow down or go around, so it’s ok to cut them off, and it seems to be ok with the riders too.

We met with two members of our Indonesian team that live here in Bandung at a very nice, very traditional restaurant. When we mentioned how nice it was to our host, he smiled that proud knowing smile again and said,”2.5.” I sense a pattern developing here.

These guys are inventors of numerous important inventions here in Indonesia. Most notably is a solar powered LED lighting system for rural homes. The invention and distribution has been so successful that the inventor is receiving an award from the president of Indonesia. We were supposed to attend the ceremony but a scheduling conflict with a representative of a large equity investor moved the meeting. Investment meetings trump presidential awards today. There will be plenty of time for presidential awards later.

After settling into our seating area we were joined by a group of white jacketed gentlemen with a very peaceful sense about them. Immediately after very quick introductions the food started pouring in, and kept pouring in until it became very obvious that we wouldn’t be able to eat it all. We feasted with light conversation and laughter. No business talk, no rush. I couldn’t venture a guess what most of the dishes were but it was clear to them that Jocelyne and I were vegetarians. They made a point of frequently reassuring us which dishes had no meat.

As soon as our hosts were completely convinced that all of us were finished, they stood up and said, “Ok… please follow us.” We asked about the bill and were assured that it had “All been taken care of.”

We all climbed into our respective vehicles and followed our white jacketed friends back into the crazy traffic. They led us deep into what appeared to be an older part of the city. The street was lined with street vendors and little shops. Some were new and modern, some were old and grimy. There was no discernible pattern, just a jumble of vendors and customers and the always present motorbikes. Suddenly the lead car with our white jacketed friends turned left into an alley. I have to be honest, I was really starting to wonder where we were going.

As soon as we turned in to the alley it was obvious. The “alley” was actually an entrance into a compound with a framework awning about three stories tall providing shade and a sense of protection from the elements. As we continued to follow them into the compound it was as if we had entered a completely different city. All of the building were very well kept. There was no trash anywhere. It was like an urban oasis.

We were directed to park under another canopy that seemed more like an outdoor theatre than a parking lot. As we exited the cars our white jacketed friends approached with an obvious sense of peaceful pride in their eyes. They could see the wonder in our faces as we started to look around. Like proud parents they invited us to follow them for “a little tour” First a walk through what seemed like a small hotel lobby which opened into a courtyard with motel rooms along both sides of a manicured yard. They asked if we would like to see inside one of the rooms. “Of course,” we said. “There’s no air conditioning.” They said with a twinkle in their eyes that gave away the surprise. They opened the door to let us in and it had to be 20 degrees cooler in the room. I asked how they did it, they replied, “We’ll show you some other time, we have other things to show show you today.” The tour continued, a coffee shop, a pre-school area, a free clinic, a book store, a grocery store. They gathered all of us together closely at the front door of an obviously large building and said, “Today is the first day of our high school IT class. We had planned for 75 students but received 200 requests for the class so we had to move the class to the auditorium. He quietly opened the door for us to look in. As we all peered in the teacher stopped the lesson that was being presented. Our hosts quickly told the entire class something in Indonesian language with the word “Americans” in it and the entire class snapped their heads toward the door to see us. I thought, “Oh man… I hope they don’t ask us to say something to the entire class.”… Thankfully they didn’t but it became very obvious that they are all fascinated by us and completely respectful of our time and space.

As the tour seemed to be wrapping up suddenly there were two new gentlemen that I hadn’t noticed before. They approached to introduce themselves. “We are the chairmen of this place. Please follow us.” We slowly began walking deeper into the complex. Their english wasn’t very good, and our Indonesian is still non-existent, but it didn’t seem to matter. They asked simple questions about if we liked their place, if we were enjoying our stay in Indonesia. Their peaceful nature was such a stark contrast to the chaos occurring just a few hundred feet away. We were led to a large building at the back of the complex. Inside a meeting room had been arranged for a presentation. After we all settled in with one of the two gentlemen we just met took the microphone and, with an interesting level of formality, introduced everyone in the room. He explained he and the other gentleman we met just a few minutes previously were co-chairmen of the organization that created this community. The gentlemen we met at the restaurant were the steering committee. After the very thorough introduction he launched a video presentation, in english, that explained how they had built the entire community we were experiencing in just 5 years. When they started the area was a slum. They started with a few donations to purchase the land, then through their own entrepreneurial efforts built this entire community. The professionally produced video included a brief description of how the approximately 20 businesses they’ve created serve the community and interact among themselves. In addition to the businesses we toured through they also have a television and radio station.

The complexity of their organization is truly impressive. The fact that it’s situated in the middle of Indonesian slum is astonishing.

As soon as the video finished our host began a powerpoint presentation that described their newest initiative, A self-sustaining community approximately five miles outside of the city. He quickly went through quite a bit of detail about their water purification system, farming techniques and expansion plans.

Now it was obvious why we were here. Our associates here in Indonesia had chosen a a group with an impressive track record to implement a key part of our business plan.

In order for our projects to receive the highest ratings and the carbon credits we generate to sell for the highest prices possible we have to demonstrate a significant level of economic and social development in the communities affected by our projects. These people are obviously experts with well thought out plans.

We’re really looking forward to working with them.

TreeBankers in Paradise

admin — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 10:52:30 +0000

This is the first in an on-going series chronicling our trips to Indonesia to launch the first of hopefully many rainforest projects. This is our first trip to SE Asia so we’ll have a learning curve as we adapt to to the culture.

Our trip started in Denver Colorado on Thursday, July 9th, with lay-overs in Los Angeles CA and Taipei, Taiwan, we arrived in Jakarta Indonesia on Saturday the 11th. With all of the timezones we crossed we seem to have lost a Friday in the process. My sense is that we’ll get it back when we fly home in a month. The majority of the flight was on China Airlines. A friend of ours from Denver that flies to Asia occasionally on business told us the service would be good and she was right. It is so refreshing to fly with a company that obviously takes a lot of pride in what they do. The food on the flight was excellent. A very cool in-seat entertainment system with free movies and video games helped the 13 hour flight go by quickly. My only “complaint” was a lack of leg room in the economy section but, since I was the tallest person on the flight, I guess I can’t blame the airline for not planning for me in advance. On the flight home we’ll try to get emergency row seats.

Our associates waited patiently as we waited in line for an hour at the Jakarta Airport for our “Upon Arrival” visa that will allow us to stay for a month.

After a quick celebratory greeting the first order of business was for our hosts to bring us to a deli style restaurant to try some of the local dishes that they’ve been tempting us with for the last few weeks. Jocelyne and I are big fans of Asian food so we were really looking forward to trying authentic dishes. It’s easy to eat vegetarian here, there are numerous tofu dishes. We tried one called gado-gado which seems to be vegetables smothered in a peanut sauce, similar to pad thai. Of course it was delicious. If all of the food is as good as our first meal here we’ll be very happy.

After a quick meal we drove to the office of our associates, Greenlinecare to meet some of the team and start discussing our itinerary. The first order of business will be to secure a 3,000 hectare island to release orang utans on. We’ll be working on that later today and I’ll pass along the details to you as they become available.

My laptops battery is almost gone and I don’t have the adapter to plug into the Indonesian wall sockets yet so I’m going to sign off for now.

I’ll be posting as often as I can, and adding images as we get into a flow here so keep checking back. We’re really excited about sharing the details of our trip with you, and showing you how we create huge avoided deforestation projects.

How Social Media Kept TreeBanker Alive

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:07:34 +0000

When my @TreeBanker account stopped working on Twitter a couple weeks ago it could have been devastating. Weeks of long hours cultivating followers gone as quickly as it takes a page to load with a high speed connection.

But those followers didn’t just disappear, they wondered what happened. They came looking for me to see if I was alright.

The very idea that people form all around the world, many of whom have never even heard each others voices, can come together to support each other is an incredible concept. The fact that we know each others online habits so well that we notice immediately when something changes… it’s like seeing the same person everyday at your favorite coffee shop… eventually strike up a conversation… find out you have more in common than just your taste in coffee and your geographic orientation… develop a friendship… then one day they break the pattern… they don’t show up for a few days. Some people value their friendships enough to go looking for their friends, to find out what happened.

A handful of my online friends did just that. They went to a mutual online friend @iempoweru, and asked what happened to me. Today’s blog post is dedicated to those people.

@Radiance80 : A prolific blogger from Sydney Australia who is interested in science and technology, history and future of human race, planet Earth.

@SandipSen : An author, economic analyst, entrepreneur, risk manager, engineer, consultant and freelance journalist from New Delhi, India.

@Upamanyu : A Student, Learner, Thinker, Wannabe Astronomer, Sky-observer, Eater, Poet (!), Writer, Blogger, Atheist, Cinema-enthusiast, Reader, Listener, Speaker, and Watcher from Kolkata, India.

@Fantasy_Art : A purveyor of amazing fantasy art in both print and digital media from BC Canada.

All of these great people were brought together by Linda at iempoweru-online-entrepreneur. If you’re serious about building meaningful online relationships I strongly recommend visiting her site and becoming part of her team.

Many other Twitter associates quickly followed me over to @TreeBankerII and expressed a lot of “Great to see you back”s, but these people really went out of their way to support me during the transition.

I AM Grateful to them for their friendship.

The Perils of Saving the Planet with Social Media

admin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:15:52 +0000

What a sinking feeling.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I’m addicted to Twitter, I just know what a powerful tool it is for bringing like-minded people together. I also know how many hours it takes to attract 25,000 followers and I know how it feels to have people reach out from the twitterverse to say, “I’ve been following you on Twitter for a while, I read your blog, can I interview you for an article?… would you consider guest blogging on our site?… what do you think about this… what do you think about that?”

I have now proven to myself that “it works” and I am incredibly optimistic that we can harness this technology to help steer the future of the planet.

Those are bold words but I’ll stand behind them.

#EcoMonday is the place for greenies of every persuasion to meet. #FollowFriday is the way to recommend legitimate sources of information that you find meaningful to your followers. The list goes on-and-on of the potential that twitter holds.

My love for Twitter may be a little idealistic but in order for “we the people” to take control of our society we have to acknowledge that we have the power to do so. I know it’s cliché to say, “We vote with our dollars.”… The truth goes much deeper than that.

One of the biggest gripes about one of the key aspects of my business is whether the carbon offset dollars are really doing any good. Social Media gives us a near- perfect system for finding out. If you ‘re thinking about buying anything from anyone… google them… set a filter on your TweetDeck for a few days. You’ll find out who they really are.

This power at our fingertips comes with responsibility though. Now if we see something that we know isn’t right, if a company or individual isn’t congruent with their marketing message we have an obligation to speak up, and systems to do it anonymously if we’re more comfortable doing it that way.

One of the perils is complacency. Some people will look at all the good that some people are doing and think, “They’re taking care of it… I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing, everything will be OK.” That’s simply not true. Our modern society simply isn’t sustainable. If we expect to leave a comfortable planet to our children and grandchildren we have slow our consumption of the planet’s finite resources.

The second peril is the fact that these social media systems are still frail. Two nights ago, as I was deleting inappropriate followers from my @TreeBanker account, Twitter locked me out.

A little research has shown that this is not unusual… there may be some sort of virus or technical problem… who knows for sure?

I’m hopeful that Twitter can restore my account and its 25,000 followers but you know what? If they can’t I’ll just rebuild with a goal of attracting 25 million followers.

The point is we have the tools at our fingertips to create a world we can all be proud to leave to future generations. It’s up to each of us to decide to use those tools.

Follow me at @TreeBankerII and watch us create your grandchildren’s world.

Are Rainforests the Lungs of the Earth?

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:15:46 +0000

It has been said that the tropical rainforests are “The Lungs of the Earth.” If this is true would they not be among the most valuable parts of the planet?
Greenpeace and other skeptics of carbon credits generated through avoided deforestation always seen to overlook a simple solution to the fear of “under-priced carbon credits flooding the market.” Place a floor on the price of all carbon credits. Instead of limiting the percentage of forestry credits in the marketplace (as in the current EU ETS), require that a certain percentage of credits come from forestry projects. The Trillion $$$ carbon market is the rainforests’ best hope of survival, and the planet’s. Dan T @TreeBanker