Creating jobs – and helping save planet

Published on Thursday 19 June 2008 22:12

SCOTTISH scientists have launched a scheme to help save tropical forests that are crucial for soaking up carbon dioxide emissions.

Vast areas of tropical woodland in Mozambique are disappearing, as locals turn the trees into charcoal to make a living.

As a result, Professor John Grace and colleagues at the University of Edinburgh have devised a scheme to guarantee locals an income, and save the forests at the same time.

Using 2 million of European Union funding, they have formed the N'hambita Community Carbon Project. Companies and individuals in the West pay to offset their carbon use, and the money goes to secure jobs for people in the community.

Prof Grace said: "There are plenty of people in the world who are willing to pay for offsetting their carbon dioxide emissions."

It has taken five years to establish the project. This week, environment experts from all over the world, including Gambia, Zambia and Mozambique, spent a day in Edinburgh at a Carbon and Communities in Tropical Woodlands Conference, organised by Prof Grace. They discussed the potential for the N'hambita project to be adopted more widely in Africa.