Please donate US$40 to the San Rafael forest project to help compensate for the greenhouse gas emissions associated with your travel to and from the BirdLife World Congress 2013

Your donation will support activities that combat deforestation in San Rafael forest, Paraguay, and therefore reduce carbon emissions.

Thank you,

The BirdLife World Congress 2013 Greening Team.

More info on the project (which is led by Guyra Paraguay, BirdLife in Paraguay)

The Atlantic Forest of Brazil Argentina and Paraguay bears the dubious distinction of being one of the most threatened yet biologically diverse ecosystems in the world. Once covering approximately 1.7 million km², only 7.4% now remains, mostly as scattered fragments. One of the largest surviving areas is San Rafael, where Guyra Paraguay (BirdLife in Paraguay) is undertaking a range of conservation activities, including protected area management and pioneering work with indigenous peoples. Funding raised through this BirdLife World Congress 2013 carbon footprint scheme will cover additional, otherwise unfunded activities to avoid deforestation and therefore reduce emissions. Activities have been chosen for which no funds are currently available and no carbon offset scheme planned in the future.

BirdLife is not proposing a formal carbon offsets programme of quantified, verified carbon reductions. However, all contributions are going towards a project that is preventing deforestation and will support work that is additional to other efforts of Guyra Paraguay and other organisations. While we recognise that carbon footprints vary according to distances flown and other factors, we propose a contribution of US$ 40 per participant. This fixed amount for all participants recognises how in BirdLife many individuals and independent organisations work together as one, but that our footprint is also shared.

To find out more about the San Rafael Atlantic Forest, please view this factsheet: http://birdlifecongress.org/pdfs/San_Rafael_profile_2013.pdf