Do good and talk about it
Rebuild rainforest in Borneo, Indonesia
“Do good and talk about it”
This is a German saying and I take it seriously. I’ve made a donation for a good cause and I want to share it with you. My goal is to motivate you to do the same. There are countless reasons to do so, and countless ways to do so. Last year I was traveling on Borneo, Indonesia, and was able to witness feral orangutans. There are not many left. On the search to support, I found the following project:
Rhino and Forest Fund
Palm oil is bad, rainforest is good. Because of the tremendous demand of palm oil (according to Greenpeace it is in every second product in German supermarkets), more and more rainforest gets cleared to build new palm oil plantations. That is what actually is bad. So far, it is unknown, how to regrow cleared areas back to a real rainforest, preferable in the shortest period of time as possible. The German Rhino and forest fund e. V. (RFF) tries to answer this question.
This registered association (e. V.) of environmentalists and researchers buys land in corporation with local authorities and transforms it back to rainforest under scientific observation. The results can serve as a blueprint for future transformations in other regions. It supports biodiversity and climate protection.
Additionally, the acquired land of 65 ha joins two separated conservation areas Tabin Wildlife Reserve and Kulamba. The Rhino and Forest Fund is responsible for the successful breakthrough in 2019 to create a linked conservation area of 200.000 ha! This newly created corridor extends the natural habitat of the orangutans and other wildlife.
An extensive interview of the founder and executive director Robert Risch can be read at Spektrum (in German).
Donations the Swabian style
In Germany you can get tax reductions if you do donations. In fact, you can get back about 40-50% of the amount of your donations (depends on your situations, you can google for “donation calculator”). So, you can actually spend twice the amount you indented to. But I am not a tax accountant, so you better check that for yourself.
