QUESTIONS
DO I OWN THE RAINFOREST?
No, legally the local NGO has to hold the titles to the lands. Dividing land for hundreds of thousands of individual donors would be financially and logistically impossible. your money is used to purchase the rainforest through a local NGO and ultimately the legal ownership is shared by the local NGO with the World Land Trust. It is done like this for a few very good reasons. (a) the most cost effective method to get ownership of the land, (b) The local NGO understands the local landscape best (c) The local NGO has an established relationship with the indiginous people who are the vital when it comes to protecting the land.
WHO OWNS RAINFORESTS, WHO DO YOU BUY THEM FROM?
Land in which Rainforests exist are owned by both private and public entities. It varies from one country to another and is often a mix of both. Large areas of Rainforested lands are owned by individual, companies, local municipalities or national governments. As such they can be bought or leased for exploitation. Very often, natural habitats under the ownership of the local municipality are illegally burnt and occupied while the local municipality turns a blind eye. Land ownership laws vary in strenth from country to country, and this is something that has is navigated by partner NGO's. Fend is happy to be associated with the aquisition of nature as a means to protect it, but in truth, the rainforests are natural heritage, it is a rather vulgar and out dated mindset that says they can be owned.
WHERE IS THE RAINFOREST I AM BUYING?
One of these locations: Amazon, Peru, Congo, Philipines, Borneo, Papua New Ginue. Your funds are used where they are most needed and where lands are available at the time you donation is bundled into a pool large enough to buy lands.
WHEN WILL THE RAINFOREST BE BOUGHT?
As soon donors buy in the region of 30,000 blocks their money will have the purchasing power needed to aquire lands. In simple terms, it is akin to buying a house, there is an entry level, and the sky is the limit thereafter. Our focus is directing money where it is most needed and in the shortest time frame. So in essence, as soon as your money can be spent on purchasing rainforest; it will be spent on purchasing rainforest.
WHAT HAPPENS IF THE MILION ACRE GOAL IS NOT REACHED?
See the above answer. Donor's money is going for the purchase of land regradless of quantities raised. So rest assured when you donate money, rainforest will be aquired on your behalf as soon as circumstances will permit.
HOW BIG IS AN ACRE?
An acre is equal to: 16 tennis courts, 9.3 basketball courts, 1,032 king size beds. An acre is 43,560 square feet or 4 046.85 square meters.
HOW DO I KNOW THIS IS NOT A SCAM?
Firstly, check with the charities register : Fend is a registered non-profit, it operates under stricter legal and accounting framework than that of a corporation. Secondly, research our affiliation organizations, they are long standing trustees of the environmental stewardship.
CAN RAINFOREST REALLY BE THIS CHEAP?
Yes, and there are some interesting reasons: Economics: Burning a jungle down to feed cows or grow palm oil is profitable but not as much as you'd think. The operating expenses are high compared to the profit margins. For example cattle grazing earns as little as $60 an acre. Ecologically: The returns diminish over time because in order to stay in shape, these soils need a forest on them, otherwise they turn to degraded deserts quite quickly (in as little as 5 years). This means that the people who do these things need to pump money into synthetic fertilizers to maintain a viable production yeilds. This temporary solution makes the soil situation even worse and eventually their project colapses and they move on to the next bit. Here is an example: this piece of land sold for X (need new example the Honduras and Philipines exampe is too old, adjust for inflation etc).
CAN I SHARE THIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA WITHOUT BUYING A BLOCK?
Yes, click this link to dowload a bundle of images you can use.
WHY DONT YOU DO A GO FUND ME
Because they take a cut of your money and we cannot afford to use your money on that. We are operating on razor thin operations with a view to putting the maximum amount of your money into the land purshases 2. Go fund me's are finite campaigns that have a defined end. FeNd has a much larger vision for conservation, the 1 million acre campaign can be the sart of even bigger and more profound conservation
DO YOU RECIEVE CORPORATE FUNDING
No, not a cent.
HOW MUCH RAINFOREST IS DESTROYED EVERY YEAR?
About 3 million acres. 148 million (148263228) acres of rainforest have been illimiated in the last 30 years (since 2002). The tropic are losing about a football pitch of Rainforest every 6 seconds.
HOW MUCH THE RAINFORESTS HAVE BEEN DEGRADED OR LOST?
About 64%
HOW MUCH RAINFOREST DOES THE PLANT HAVE LEFT?
About 36% (14.6 million square kilometres) of tropical rainforest remains intact, while 34 per cent of it is completely gone and the remaining 30 per cent has been degraded.
CANT WE JUST REPLACE RAINFOREST WITH NEW TREES?
No, rainforests are much more than simply trees. They are vastly complex systems with incalcuable interactions between plants, mycelium, animals and the elements. Planting trees is a hugely valuable part of ecological recovery if a diverse range of tree species is used and followed by the re-introduction of flora and fauna. Consider that a pristine Rainforest could contain X of plant species. Much of the earths land wants to become forrest. Land that has been stripped of vegitative cover, animal life, organic matter, soil micobes and fertility, will likely return to forrest if it were left alone, for several hundred years. However, it may not. Many of the worlds grasslands do not sustain tree cover due to their soils profiles inability to support forrest systems. Many of the worlds Rainforests formed at particular epochs in the worlds history when climatic conditions would have favoured their development. Such climatic conditions may not arise again for melenia. In conclusion: temperate and tropical Rainforests are highly complex systems. It cannot be guranteed that man could replace them if he completely destroys them.