Take Action: Tell Your Senators to Save Rainforests and Stop Climate Change

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Tell Your Senators to Save Rainforests and Stop Climate Change

Global climate change is the most important environmental issue humanity has yet faced, and the window of opportunity for action is rapidly closing. In December 2009, the United Nations is meeting in Copenhagen to negotiate a climate deal that will succeed the Kyoto Protocol. This deal will include an agreement on REDD, or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation. Meanwhile, the US Senate is considering a climate bill which will also include REDD provisions. Deforestation is responsible for a whopping 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, the third and fourth largest greenhouse gas emitting countries, just behind the U.S. and China, are Indonesia and Brazil, due to the destruction of tropical rainforests.

Two important drivers of tropical forest loss are the rapid expansion of oil palm plantations, which produce oil that is used in food, cosmetics, cleaning and biofuels products, and pulp and paper plantations. Palm oil and paper plantations are not tropical problems; they are our problems too. Here in the U.S., palm oil is found in almost half of the items on grocery store shelves, and US companies buy paper from converted Indonesian rainforests every day. A strong REDD agreement can help stop the conversion of rainforests to plantations, but a weak REDD agreement could make things worse.

Send a message today to your Senators to demand that they ensure that the US Climate Bill protects rainforests, respects the rights of Indigenous peoples, and doesn't let big polluters off the hook from reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

For more information, visit the Rainforest Agribusiness Campaign.

Talking Points

Subject:

Dear [ Decision Maker ]

(Edit Letter Below)

Now more than ever, U.S. leadership on climate change is essential. I call on you to push for a strong climate bill in the Senate, one that secures BOTH deep reductions in fossil fuel emissions AND provisions on REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) that save tropical rainforests and respect the rights of Indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consent.

An effective REDD agreement will prioritize the protection of forests, not converting them to plantations, and will make sure that benefits from forest protection are distributed equitably. It must address consumption, in the U.S. and other wealthy countries, of products like palm oil and paper that are fueling tropical deforestation. And it must result in greenhouse gas emissions reductions that are in addition to those needed to end our dependence on dirty fossil fuels.

This is an unparalleled opportunity to focus global efforts in ways that could save millions of acres of the world's dwindling rainforests and protect our climate at the same time.

The future of our planet is at stake. Now is the time to be bold!

Sincerely,
[Your name]

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