MARKET-BASED CONSERVATION MODEL
If we want magnificent wildlife in our world, we must find a way to make it work for the local communities who share their land and resources with the wildlife. Job creation and alternative livelihoods to poaching and deforestation sustained by the marketplace is our strategy. The REDD+ carbon marketplace has financed our conservation projects all over the world.
WHO IS WILDLIFE WORKS
Wildlife Works is the world's leading REDD+ program development and management company with an effective approach to applying innovative market based solutions to the conservation of biodiversity.
Over its 20 year history, Wildlife Works established a successful model that uses the emerging marketplace for REDD+ Carbon Offsets to protect threatened forests, wildlife, and communities.
REDD+ allows local landowners in the developing world monetize their forest and biodiversity assets whether they are governments, communities, ownership groups, or private individuals.
THE WORLD'S FIRST REDD+ CARBON CREDITS
In 2011, the Wildlife Works Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project was successfully validated and verified under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard (CCB). This was the world's first REDD+ project to receive issuance of carbon credits and is the world's first VCS REDD+ mega-project, in that it will result in the avoidance of over 1.5 million tonnes of CO2-e emissions per year for the next 30 years.
Wildlife Works' ground-breaking Kasigau REDD+ project protects over 500,000 acres of highly threatened Kenyan forest, securing the entire wildlife migration corridor between Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks, and brings the benefits of direct carbon financing to more than 100,000 people in the surrounding communities.
"REDD+ brings a positive change to our region with real and direct solutions for poverty alleviation that will uplift our community" said Chief Kizaka of Kasigau Location in the Voi District who represents over 12,000 people. Chief Kizaka added; "This is not charity. Carbon money helps us meet basic needs and improve our lifestyle. The money is earned through conservation activities that afford us the ability to protect our environment."
The Kasigau Corridor REDD+ project was awarded the additional distinction of Gold level status by the CCB for exceptional biodiversity and climate benefits. The project area is home to a fantastic diversity of over 50 species of large mammals, more than 20 species of bats and over 300 species of birds and important populations of IUCN Red List species such as; Grevy's Zebra, Cheetah, Lion, African Wild Dog as well as over 2,000 African elephants.
WHAT IS REDD+?
REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), is a climate change mitigation strategy introduced by the United Nations to help stop the destruction of the world's forests which is contributing massively to climate change.
The carbon market is used to support these efforts and bring direct benefits to communities. REDD+ Voluntary Emissions Reductions, (VERs), are issued on an annual basis by third party verifiers only after the forest has been successfully protected and sustainable economic alternatives have been created for the community, such as job creation initiatives and agricultural intensification programs.
Wildlife Works' REDD+ projects protect threatened forests, wildlife, and by providing regenerative economic development pathways for and by rural communities. The essence of the Wildlife Works REDD+ conservation strategy is based on job creation. Jobs create a viable alternative for people that have previously had to destroy their environment just to survive.
Jobs created at our REDD+ projects include conservation rangers, factory workers, horticulturalists, machinists, seamstresses, foresters, carpenters, construction workers, drivers, mechanics and administrative personnel. Carbon sales also finances the development of small businesses such as an eco-clothing factory, and sustainable charcoal production and distribution.
EXPANSION
In 2012, Wildlife Works successfully completed the validation, verification and credit issuance credits from our Mai Ndombe REDD+ project in the DRC. This Congo Basin Rainforest Project protects over 740,000 acres of critical bonobo and forest elephant habitat within the world's second-largest intact rainforest. This crucial project provides a pathway to low-carbon economic development, agricultural and economic diversification, education and healthcare development, and capacity building activities that give agency to local communities.
In partnership with a diverse group of stakeholders including project practitioners and civil society, Wildlife Works developed a set of best practices for generating high quality REDD+ credits from the DRC. Click here to read more.
We are continuing to build our portfolio of high quality REDD+ projects in Africa, Asia, Central and South America with a 5 year goal of protecting 5 million hectares of native forest that will mitigate 25 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually and create thousands of sustainable jobs.
See our other projects here.
CERTIFICATIONS & AWARDS
WE BELIEVE
We believe that all species have an intrinsic right to exist on Earth.
We believe that all people have a right to feel safe and secure in their traditional homes, to raise and educate their children, to aspire to a better life or cherish the life they already have.
We believe that increasingly, these two principles conflict as human communities expand into wilderness in search of a new home or income, and begin to compete with wildlife for water, food and the use of natural resources.
We believe that we have no right to preach to those at the sharp edge of human-wildlife conflict in the developing world.
We believe in non-violent solutions, and that guns escalate violence, so our Wildlife Rangers are unarmed (but tough and unafraid).
We believe that those of us whose standard of living has been supported through the extraction of natural resources from far away wildernesses have been key drivers of this accelerating conflict.
We believe that we now know the impact of our actions, and that we now have a choice to be part of the solution, to provide those who live in wilderness with a sustainable, wildlife friendly way to thrive.
We believe that the sheer scale of the marketplace dwarfs charitable donations, so charity cannot repair what the marketplace continues to destroy.
We believe the marketplace is not inherently evil; it is you and us, and we can choose responsible commerce and direct the power of the marketplace to helping solve problems rather than creating them.
We believe that job and market based solutions like ours should be provided by self sustaining businesses in the marketplace, so we are not constrained by a narrow NGO charter, and can take a holistic, systems approach to meeting a forest community’s needs while protecting wildlife at the same time.
We believe in radical transparency, so you can hold us accountable for our actions, celebrate our successes, and appreciate our struggles.
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