At Natusan, we believe in working with like minded organisations to increase our paw-sitive impact. Thanks to our brilliant pet parents and customers, we are able to partner with Ecologi, who fund tree planting initiatives and carbon reduction projects here in the UK and around the world. Cheaper, cleaner energy and resilient forests benefit us all, and this month they have been busy supporting projects in Vietnam and Kenya.
The Quang Minh solar project
Vietnam has a population of 90 million and most of the energy it produces comes from coal and oil, but due to its geographical location and high solar radiation intensity, it has the potential to develop a solar power network.
The Quang Minh solar project installs and operates a solar farm in a rural region to the south of the country, harnessing the tropical sun to generate renewable energy and to decrease the country’s reliance on coal.
This solar farm can provide clean energy for 36,000 people, and reduce emissions by over 60,000 tonnes of CO2 - by replacing the energy that would have been generated by fossil fuels. It also creates well-paid employment opportunities for local people that are 2.5 x the average salary for the area. Purrfect.
Along with all Ecologi projects, the Quang Minh solar project is verified by the Verified Carbon Standard and the Verra Registry which you can view here.
Afromontane reforestation project in Mau, Kenya
A trip to Kenya has always been on our bucket list. Who wouldn’t want to see the Big Cats in their natural habitat? The presence of lions, leopards, cheetahs, several cats and caracals helps boost an economy that is largely reliant on tourism and agriculture. Despite being relatively prosperous, food security and poverty still affect 36% of the Kenyan population.
Ecologi projects in Kenya are run by Eden Reforestation Projects, a non-profit on a mission to provide fair wage employment to impoverished villagers and restore global forests. Forests act as carbon sinks, drawing down carbon from the atmosphere. They are threatened by development, increasing temperatures, drought and wildfires, as well as worsening insect and pathogen outbreaks.
In the Mau Region, local people are challenged by limited access to fresh water, poor roads and insufficient educational facilities. The Mau forest has many tributaries that feed into Lake Victoria, which is the life blood for millions of people.
Deforestation has taken a great toll on this region since the 1970s, where land has been cleared and degraded by livestock and agriculture, and when combined with recent droughts, damages the local water table.
The Kass FM project covers 5,700 hectares that is owned by the Kenyan government and will be planted by locals. The ‘employ-to-plant’ initiative creates a regular income in sustainable land use for local residents, who are employed as planters, nursery staff growing saplings and forest guards. This income goes towards education, nutrition and health care among the local community. Over seven years, this project will restore the temperate forest by planting 14.25 million afromontane trees.
26/08/2021 by NatuTeam