Long Way Up Contributes to Cool Earth

Even with our careful planning to reduce our carbon emissions, which earned us certification with Planet Mark, we knew that some emissions would be unavoidable. To mitigate the emissions generated by fights and hotel stays, we decided to protect 81 acres of rainforest with the nonprofit Cool Earth for the Asháninka community in Cutivireni, visited by Ewan and Charley on their Long Way Up Journey. 

Deforestation releases as much carbon into the atmosphere as the global travel industry combined and crucially destroys the best natural carbon capture technology we have, the earth’s lungs: our rainforests. 

Cool Earth is a nonprofit organisation who work with rainforest communities to halt deforestation and its impact on climate change by putting local indigenous people back in control of their homelands.

On the banks of the Ene River, Cutivireni is Cool Earth’s first and now longest-standing partnership. Through their funding, Cool Earth has provided the indigenous Asháninka community with the resources to invest in what they need most, and the option to turn away loggers and unsustainable slash and burn farming practices (which they otherwise would rely on for income) to preserve their lands and traditions.

The Asháninka community has been threatened by more than just deforestation. Persecuted during the Shining Path Movement of the 1980s and 1990s with many children orphaned, families were broken up and peoples displaced, the community’s determination to protect their home and rainforest has remained steadfast. They dwell in one of the biggest coca-growing areas in Peru, where the areas and routes carved out by Shining Path’s occupation are exploited to grow the in-demand crop. The area is known to have high rates of childhood malnutrition and poverty.

By preserving the forest and its rich resources through funding, this community can be free to thrive, whilst contributing to a greener planet.

See here the area we have protected.