Disney Invests in Forestry

The Walt Disney Company intends to invest US$7 million in forest conservation projects in the U.S.A, the Amazon  and the Congo Basin in an effort to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

Disney’s forestry  investment policy is being made in partnership with three conservation groups: Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy and The Conservation Fund.

Working with Conservation International, Disney will contribute $4 million to the Tayna and Kisimba-Ikobo Community Reserves in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the Alto Mayo conservation project in the Peruvian Amazon.

The projects will fund community forest management and sustainable development activities around the reserves, reducing deforestation from logging and slash-and-burn agriculture. The investment is the largest-ever corporate contribution to reduce emissions from deforestation, according to Peter Seligmann, CEO and chairman of Conservation International.

“This commitment by Disney will help build confidence in these activities that generate such compelling climate, local community and biodiversity benefits,” he said in a prepared statement. Disney’s leadership points the way to the key role tropical forest conservation must play in emerging climate change policies.”

Disney will provide another $2 million for a reforestation project of native hardwoods in the Lower Mississippi Valley. The project is run by The Nature Conservancy. Disney also will invest $1 million in The Conservation Fund’s reduced impact logging operation in Mendocino County, California

Copyright:

Issued by:  Forestry Investment Blog

Author: John Barnes

e-Mail:

Issue date: November 6, 2009

Link to Article: Origin of this text