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From the Amazon to Siberia: what corporations are doing to save forests

It is possible to save forests not by words, but by deeds. We present a new compilation of what and how the biggest companies and manufacturers do.

The problem of deforestation is high on today’s environmental agenda. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, five countries account for 54% of the world’s forests:

Russia – 815 million hectares (20%);
Brazil – 497 million hectares (12 percent);
Canada – 347 million hectares (9 percent);
The United States of America – 310 million ha (8 percent);
China 220 million ha (5%).

In 24 regions located in the Earth’s tropical and subtropical belts, ecologists found the highest rates of deforestation. Between 2004 and 2017, these areas lost 43 million hectares of forest.

Deforestation is the process of turning forest land into fields, crop plantations, pastures, cities, wastelands and others.

To change the situation, more than a hundred countries have pledged to stop forest loss by 2030. This agreement was first announced at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow on 13 November 2021. Almost $20 billion will be allocated to rehabilitate degraded forests and fight fires over this period.

It is not just government officials, environmentalists and activists who are campaigning to save the country’s forest wealth. Big corporations and companies have a special place in this process. How are they bringing attention to a universal problem?

“The gifts of the Amazon forest” (Nespresso)

To embody its commitment to respecting the environment, Nespresso has teamed up with Colombian designer Joanna Ortiz to develop a limited edition collection of coffee and accessories, “Gifts of the Amazonian Forest”. The collection is inspired by the beauty of nature and aims to draw attention to the problem of Amazon rainforest destruction in Brazil, the area of which only during the period from 2020 to 2021 decreased by 13 thousand square kilometers – the maximum since 2006.

Nespresso has been supporting ecosystems for almost 20 years. To help the local communities that call the forest home, the company has taken 10 million trees (47,000 ha) under its protection in the Amazon forests of the La Pedrera region (Colombia). The work is carried out in collaboration with Conservation International (International Society for Conservation) and the community of MadroƱo (a municipality and municipality in Spain).

“For me, design and nature go hand in hand, which is why the collaboration with Nespresso resonated in my heart. Plus, Colombian coffee has a special place there. As a climate change activist, another important reason that gives our collaboration added meaning is that I consider Nespresso’s commitment to agroforestry and the protection of Amazonian trees to be an important one. When designing the collection, I tried to capture the beauty of the forest in every detail, incorporating the beauty of the rich forest landscapes and dark earth tones into the designs. It was an amazing process that gave me real pleasure,” Nespresso quotes Joanna Ortiz as saying.

“Forest Guardians by WWF (Tetra Pak)

In February 2021, Tetra Pak, a multinational company, joined WWF’s Guardians of the Forest programme. The programme aims to protect pristine forests. Anyone can support Tetra Pak’s endeavours. In order to do so:

buy milk, baby food or juice in Tetra Pak packages with special design “Helping nature is easy”.

Tetra Pak will send a part of revenue from each package to support forests. As the organisation itself explains, it is necessary and important to preserve such corners of wild nature. They not only regulate the climate of the country and protect soil from degradation, but also help rivers to remain full and preserve rare species of animals and plants.