Hot and Bothered about climate change

The general public remains largely oblivious to the biggest causes of climate change.

An ICM poll commissioned by the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) shows that more than half of the UK public wrongly believe that the destruction of the world's rainforests contributes less to climate change than air travel and domestic energy use. In fact, deforestation releases more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year than all of the world's planes, trains and automobiles put together.

The survey results published today mark the launch of RFUK's new Hot & Bothered campaign, which aims to make the general public more aware of the role that the protection of rainforests can play in tackling climate change, whilst also protecting the rights of indigenous peoples living within the rainforests themselves.

Each hectare of rainforest (roughly the size of two football pitches) holds an average of 160 tonnes of carbon. Every year an area nearly the size of England and Wales is cut down, releasing billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, leaving millions of people homeless and driving animals and plants to extinction.

RFUK Director Simon Counsell says:

"At the current rate of destruction, deforestation contributes about as much to global greenhouse gas emissions annually as the entire United States, mostly from the loss of tropical forests. We need to put an end to it, but at the same time we need to make sure that the rainforest is protected in a responsible and sustainable way. Our experience shows that the best way to protect rainforests is to secure the rights of the communities that have always lived in and depended on them.

"By launching the Hot & Bothered campaign, we're calling on the public to recognise the role that these areas can play in reducing carbon emissions, while demanding that even bigger steps be taken here at home. By helping us to protect the rainforest, people can make a real contribution to tackling climate change."

As part of the campaign RFUK is also unveiling a new ‘Virtual Rainforest', which allows people to protect and personalise their own online acre for a £25 donation. Each online acre will help RFUK to place real acres of forest into the hands of the people that live there.

Simon Counsell adds:

"We need to get the public on board, but we recognise that this is about governments, not just individuals. We want to use the campaign to put pressure on world leaders and policy makers. As politicians prepare to debate so-called ‘reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation' (REDD) schemes at the coming G8 summit, RFUK is working hard to ensure that the end result isn't an easy way for indistrialised countries to avoid cutting their own domestic emissions, or a land grab that displaces the people who have protected and relied upon these areas for millennia."

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