Protecting Forests in Yunnan Province, China

Background:

Although tree planting is an essential part of overcoming the climate crisis through creating future carbon sinks, the protection of current forests from deforestation is also essential to overcoming climate change. With an average matured forest of one million grown trees, absorbing around 24,000 tonnes of CO2 each year.

Our support for the protection of a 6,879-hectare forest in Yunnan Province, China, has prevented the destruction of a valuable carbon sink through commercial deforestation. This has allowed the forest to continue acting as a critical carbon sink.

Without the project, these trees would have been cut down for commercial timber, as the forest was previously outlined for logging. Although most of the timber would have been used for construction purposes, it is likely the lower quality waste wood would have likely been sold for firewood. This not only allows the forest to continue as a valuable carbon sink, but has also prevented carbon from being released during the burning of forest timber.

The protection of the forest reduces 41,050 tonnes of CO2e per year, whilst as a whole, the project has supported a reduction of 1,094,681 tonnes of CO2e throughout its lifetime. This is the equivalent of the same amount of greenhouse gas emitted by the average global citizen for 273,670 years.

The project also has wider social and environmental benefits. This includes creating long-term employment opportunities for local people within forest protection and management. With previous logging jobs in the region, often only hiring for several months each year. This also provides groups with new skills in forest management, diverging local knowledge away from deforestation to forest protection. Furthermore, forest protection allows for biodiversity to develop among native broad-leaved and pine trees, protecting habitats in which plant and animal life can thrive.

About the Project:

This project is certified to the highest level by The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).

* Read more about the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We require that the projects we support meet at least 3 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, of which one is climate action. This means that as well as fighting climate change by offsetting carbon emissions, the projects your money is supporting contribute to sustainable development for ecosystems and communities around the world. 

The Impact and Benefits of this Project: 

Environmental benefits: 

• Destroys a valuable carbon sink, with each tree saved continuing to absorb around 21 kilograms of CO2 each year.
• Prevented carbon from being released through the burning of wood, as waste timber is sold as firewood.
• Protects as an essential habitat, which allows for plant and animal biodiversity to thrive among native trees.

Social benefits:

• Creating long-term local employment opportunities in place of casual work previously offered by the logging industry.
• Creates training opportunities for local people in forest management.  

You can read more about how we select our projects here: Behind the scenes: How do we choose our projects?

Your Impact:

You can see a record of our donation to this project on our public ledger.

Thanks to the contributions of our members, we are reducing carbon emissions for a more sustainable future.

Interested in supporting more projects like this one and offsetting your carbon emissions? Head over to the Treepoints site to calculate your carbon footprint and start offsetting your emissions today.