Rainforests are often called the lungs of the planet for their role in absorbing carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and increasing local humidity. Rainforests also help to maintain the world's water cycle by adding water to the atmosphere through the process of transpiration which creates clouds.
Trees play a key role in reducing pollutant levels, without tropical rainforests the greenhouse effect will be more noticeable and worsen climate change in the future.
According to the World Resources Institute, every year about 18m hectares of forest – an area the size of England and Wales is cleared.
Trees for All team up with the International Tree Fund (ITF) and Arbofilia, a local nature conservation organization to reforest Carara National Park in Costa Rica, one of the nature reserves with the highest biodiversity in Central America.
The rainforest of Carara is the natural habitat of jaguars and coloured macaws. In the mangrove forests near the coast you will find large crocodiles. The higher parts of the area, also called the Turrubares Mountains, are covered with tropical cloud forests which in the past were directly connected to the rain forest of Carara National Park. Large parts of this area suffered from deforestation and loss of wildlife in the period 1950 – 1970. No less than 90 percent of the previously untouched tropical forests disappeared, leaving primary forest fragments in a matrix of overgrown meadow fields, degraded farmlands and secondary forest patches.
Over the past 20 years, ITF and Arbofilia have restored 65 hectares of forest. Trees that were planted twenty years ago are now ten meters or higher and the water management in the area has been restored.
There is much more land that still needs to be reforested, Trees for All’s goal is to plant at least 105,000 different native trees and restore at least 105 hectares of forest.
The program also has a great impact on the local economy, bringing in employment by having the local people for planting and maintaining trees, local residents benefit from the increase of ecotourism. Local farmers are being trained and advised to grow their land in a sustainable way and to protect the existing forest.
How can you help?
You are invited to participate in the DONATE program through the following channels:
Purchase of APERTUS souvenir through our website or social media platforms;
Donation directly through our website.
When you fly with APERTUS, we will donate 10 trees on your behalf of you.