The Nature Conservancy develops new financial and investment mechanisms to combat climate change and invest in saving the forests of the planet. The Rio Bravo Reserve, in Belize, shows how to achieve it.

This initiative is about the first carbon project of TNC and one of the first efforts of this kind worldwide. In 2012, the Rio Bravo reserve certified 1.6 million tons of carbon offsets, which ceased to be emitted into the atmosphere due to avoided deforestation or that were captured by forest management efforts. This has made it possible to successfully withdraw more than 1.5 million dollars in compensation, which now helps to guarantee the financial viability of the reserve, whose 100,000 hectares are managed in partnership with a local entity, Program for Belize.
 
The jungles of Belize are an important part of the Mayan Forest, one of the largest forest massifs in the best state that the world has left. The Rio Bravo reserve helps conserve a large part of its biodiversity, as well as being home to the largest population of jaguars in the Mayan Forest. No less important is that their trees store huge amounts of carbon dioxide that, if they spilled into the atmosphere after a forest fire or by deforestation that advances strongly in other latitudes and that threatens these ecosystems, would contribute to accelerate even more. aggravate climate change Financing its conservation, however, is very difficult if no efforts are added from all latitudes.


The jungles of Belize 

To contribute to the conservation of the Mayan Forest, TNC has developed innovative financial schemes that allow social actors from all over the planet to concentrate their efforts where they have better results. Thus, the organization has worked with energy suppliers from other parts of the globe to invest in the conservation and forest management of the reserve, so that these forests help reduce the impact of their activities.
 
With these resources the permanence of the forests of Rio Bravo has been guaranteed and actions are taken that add to those that would happen without another intervention. In addition, measures have been taken to prevent carbon leakage - that is, to prevent deforestation that had occurred in the absence of this effort simply to change location.