Current Campaign
December 2007
“We Love Coral Reefs as Much as the Next Person, But …”
The US Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA) is again under assault. This time the threat is dilution rather than inactivity. Though 30 million acres of tropical forests are destroyed each year, The Treasury Department, (which administers the TFCA) says they cannot find enough qualified uses for the funds currently allocated to saving tropical forests. The TFCA expires at the end of 2007 and is due to be re-authorized this year. A house bill (S 2020) has been introduced that would expand the Act’s mandate to help conserve coral reefs. Which would be great, except no one is proposing new money to help the corals. That means less money for saving tropical forests.
We at TFG have an easy solution. Find out who your senator is. Write down their telephone number. Find out if they are on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (if they are, your call is even more important). Then simply pick up the phone and call your representative to let them know your thoughts about coral reefs and tropical forests. Do you like them? Do you think it should be one or the other that makes it into the next century? Do you think they should be thrown into a pit and made to fight one another for limited US funding? You can suggest one way to improve S 2020: double it’s funding --- from $20 million to $40 million --- so the United States can realistically help conserve two types of ecosystems. By the way, $40 million is still less than 15 cents per US citizen to help save coral reefs and tropical forests. S 2020 has been introduced by Senator Lugar (R) Ill. His phone number is (222.224.4814). The bill has been assigned calender #419 date and will be voted on in coming weeks.
Planned Campaign
December 2007
TFG is gearing up for another big event at COP13 in Bali, Indonesia. We’ve hired a Balinese choreographer and dancers, commissioned a colorful tree art installation and built a network of media-savvy rainforest experts and advocates. Our goal is to make sure that the greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation are on the front pages of newspapers around the world as UN diplomats meet for two weeks in early December. TFG is calling for the UN to pass stronger pro-tropical forests text at the important, upcoming talks in Bali. More… |
