Ministry presents “World’s Green Lungs”

Press release: 03.11.2009

World’s Green Lungs is a non-profit organization that has been implementing a project of saving and restoring the rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its project will now be pursued under the auspices of the Minister of the Environment, Mr. Ladislav Miko. The organizers will introduce their project in Prague on Thursday, 19 November, at a workshop entitled “Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity Services Shown on an Example of the Congo” with an accompanying exhibition of African arts and a folklore program.

World’s Green Lungs was established as a humanitarian non-profit organization with the objective to save a specific area of the rainforest in the Maniema province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The organization aims to combat climate changes by restoring the rainforest, to contribute to saving the tropical rainforests in the Democratic Republic of Congo and, at the same time, to help the local communities in launching sustainable farming and forestry. The activities of World’s Green Lungs are also supported by the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Every human being plays a role in the production of carbon dioxide released into the air and thus contributes to the greenhouse effect and climate changes. The tropical rainforest is one of the largest natural sinks of CO₂. One of the ways of “sweeping away” our carbon footprint is to support the World’s Green Lungs’ initiative called “Adopt a Rainforest” and to adopt a tree or even a larger part of the rainforest in the Maniemi area. The funds thus obtained will be used to reforest previously felled areas, to improve the living and social conditions of the local communities and to support sustainable development of the landscape with the aim of producing food and oxygen.

For the first stage of the project, World’s Green Lungs has available 17,700 km² of tropical rainforests in the center of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the province of Maniema. A further 16 000 km² have already been prepared for transfer under the organization’s administration in the next stage.

In addition to the “Adopt a Rainforest” initiative, World’s Green Lungs is currently also implementing its Agroforestry project. This project is concerned with reforestation of an extensive area (5 000 km²) that has already been felled and with monitoring the effects on the ecosystem. The project will yield, as one of its outputs, a study of the effects of restoration of forests on a change in the climate conditions in the local landscape and adjacent areas, and also a change in the continental climate, including measurement and verification of the global social benefits of these changes, while using the methodology of valuation of ecosystem services.

An energy-independent research center for reforestation of the landscape will be created in the Maniema province for the purposes of the project, together with a system of forestry nurseries and testing areas for growing suitable seedling material for restoration of the forests. Technologies, machines and equipment suitable for the specific local conditions of restoration and growing of the forests will be tested. Renewable energy sources – small water and solar plants – will be utilized and professional education and health care will be provided for the personnel and the local population, equaling 138,000 people.

More information on World’s Green Lungs can be obtained at www.greenlungs.net or www.adoptujstrom.cz.

Jakub Kaspar, Spokesperson of the MoE