The new project which will put Yorkshire on the map... in Yorkshire (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

The new project which will put Yorkshire on the map... in Yorkshire

8:34am Tuesday 31st August 2010 in

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Many people across the world are involved in saving rainforests, whether it be adults volunteering with environmental organisations, or children raising cash to protect wildlife.

Projects vary in size, from small fundraising events held locally, to vast initiatives based in the threatened regions.

For one of Yorkshire’s best-known companies, fulfilling its pledge to help these at-risk areas and help in the fight against climate change could take decades.

Tea and coffee firm Bettys & Taylors, which has a cafe and tea room in Ilkley, is in the early stages of an ambitious project to save an area of rainforest the size of Yorkshire. “The rainforests act as massive carbon banks and take in around a quarter of the emissions generated by the world’s population,” says Cristina Talens, the company’s ethical trading manager.

“Whether for fuel or soya, palm oil or timber, we are chopping down the rainforest at a huge rate. When it is cut, the carbon is released into the atmosphere, and by losing virgin forest you lose the biodiversity that goes with it.

“The rainforests contribute to the formation of clouds, and rain. If trees keep disappearing there will be a tipping point at which it will not do that. The land could eventually become a dry mass.”

She adds: “We wanted to save an area the size of Yorkshire and we did a lot of research into the kind of project we could implement on the ground.”

Saving trees means saving the planet, but it also means saving lifestyles, preserving the communities that eke their existence from the rainforest.

To begin this mammoth task – called the Yorkshire Rainforest Project – the company joined forces with the Rainforest Foundation UK, which supports people living in and around rainforests, to save an area of the Amazon rainforest in Peru.

“We will be saving an area of 237,000 hectares, roughly the size of the Yorkshire Dales,” says Cristina.

The area covered by the project lies in central Peru, straddling the River Ene, and is home to the Ashaninka people, 10,000 of whom live in 33 scattered communities.

“They are in the middle of the forest – to get there involves an eight-hour boat trip,” says Cristina, who has twice visited the area.

The Ashaninka are mostly dependent on subsistence agriculture – self-sufficiency, in which farmers grow sufficient to feed their families.

Using biodiversity-friendly techniques, they plant crops including sweet potato, corn, bananas, rice, coffee and sugar cane. They live from hunting and fishing, primarily using bows and arrows or spears, as well as collecting fruit and vegetables in the jungle.

“For the Ashaninka people, the forest is their lifeblood. It provides everything from food to building materials, to medicine,” says Cristina. “They don’t have a strong cash economy.”

They have lived through civil war, and current threats include oil exploration, illegal logging, mineral extraction, drug smuggling and even the Peruvian government, which wants to build a hydro-electric dam which could flood 17 of the 33 communities.

“It is an area of pristine, beautiful, incredible rainforest,” says Cristina. “The project aims to protect the rainforest through the indigenous people. We are looking at sustainable livelihoods.”

A sustainable forest management plan is being introduced, looking at how the communities are going to handle the forest resources in the future – what is going to be used, and what is sustainable. We are looking at what challenges they face.”

The seeds of this ambitious project were sown 20 years ago when the children of Bettys & Taylors chief executive Jonathan Wild watched an item on Blue Peter about the destruction of the rainforests.

“They were very upset, so Jonathan told them that if they planted the first tree, he would plant another 999,999,” says Cristina.

He has more than fulfilled that promise. To date, with the support of customers and staff, and working with various charities, the firm has planted more than three million trees on four continents under its Trees For Life campaign.

The new Rainforest Project is also working with Communities Ashaninka of River Ene, a locally-founded, growing group of people banding together to protect people’s way of life.

People can help the project by collecting tokens from tea boxes and also, adds Cristina, by becoming aware of rainforest-related issues. “Be aware of your energy consumption, and look at how products are sourced.”