This is a guest article written by the Size of Wales team.
During Great Big Green week, the Welsh climate change charity, Size of Wales, launched its Deforestation Free Business toolkit.
Every year, an area of tropical forest equivalent to six times the size of Wales is lost to deforestation due to the products and services we consume here on a daily basis. This is driving climate change and nature loss, and leading to widespread social impacts worldwide, including child labour and the abuse of Indigenous People’s rights.
A deforestation free toolkit for businesses to help them put the brakes on climate change
To tackle this head on, Size of Wales has produced a Deforestation Free Business Toolkit - a free resource to show businesses how they can help preserve our tropical forests and put the brakes on climate change.
Size of Wales and their charity partner, Orchard Media and Events Group have been working together to try to reduce their impact on tropical forests. Orchard is the first company in Wales to pilot the Deforestation Free Business toolkit, which has been designed to help businesses ensure that the products and services they buy, produce or invest in, are not causing tropical deforestation, habitat destruction and social impacts overseas.
Angie Kirby, Advocacy Outreach Officer at Size of Wales said: In the transition to a lower carbon economy, businesses play a key role by bridging the gap between consumers on one side and growers and producers on the other. We are so pleased to be working with Orchard to help them adopt a practical, deforestation free approach to reduce their carbon footprints, make their businesses more resilient to climate impacts and respond to public demands for greater action on tropical deforestation”.
73% of global deforestation is caused by the production of just a handful of agricultural products, including beef from South America, soy (used as livestock feed), palm oil, coffee, cacao, timber and natural rubber. The greenhouse gas emissions from just four of these commodities is equivalent to 22% of Wales’ transport emissions (1.5 million tonnes CO2e).
Orchard media’s commitment to reducing their tropical forest footprint
Orchard is playing its own small part in slowing deforestation in places like the Amazon, by checking the origins and certifications of the products it buys and engaging with its suppliers on these issues.
Director Tim Powell said: “It’s important we all understand the potential negative impacts of our purchasing decisions and the steps we can take to tackle climate change throughout our business activities, for example, through sustainable sourcing, reducing consumption and choosing ethical banking and investments, such as pensions. We have committed to reducing our tropical forest footprint and Size of Wales has made it easy to start this journey and at no cost with their Deforestation Free Business Toolkit.”
Orchard have also produced a video to share their deforestation free journey presented by the Radio Wales presenter, Aleighcia Scott. Together, Size of Wales and Orchard aim to mobilise businesses across Wales to join the campaign to help make Wales a Deforestation Free Nation.
For more information, visit Size of Wales online.
Editor’s Notes
For decades, the ‘size of Wales’ was used as a unit of measurement for the destruction of our most precious natural habitats. Since 2010, the charity Size of Wales has brought the nation together to turn this negative into a positive.
Size of Wales works with Indigenous and local people worldwide to protect at least 2 million hectares of tropical forests – an area the size of Wales and grow millions of trees. The charity also delivers climate change education to schools across Wales and works to inspire positive change across sectors to help preserve and protect these key ecosystems and support Indigenous Peoples’ rights.