BAL helps protect 3,000 Amazonian villagers

Nearly 3,000 indigenous villagers and 80,000 trees in the Peruvian rainforest have been protected thanks to a partnership between BAL and Cool Earth – Europe’s fastest growing environmental charity.

Cool Earth works with villagers in South America to prevent rainforests from being cut down. Funding a local trust, Cool Earth makes the local community the legal custodians of the land, and uses community rangers and satellite imagery to monitor and protect the rainforest 24/7 from illegal activity.

Supported by celebrities such as Vivienne Westwood, Ricky Gervais, and Kate Moss, and backed by leading environmentalist such as Sir David Attenborough and Sir Nicholas Stern, the charity institutes sustainable employment programmes, and supports schools and clinics, so that indigenous rainforest communities do not suffer from lost logging income.

As part of its partnership with Cool Earth, BAL funds the protection of one square metre of rainforest in for every square metre of BAL’s tile adhesive range used.

Since partnering with Cool Earth, BAL has helped protect 333 acres and 79,920 trees – locking in 86,580 tonnes of CO2 that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere contributing to global warming and climate change.

Alex Underwood, Head of Marketing at BAL – the UK’s market-leader in tiling solutions – said the company was proud of its environmental commitment and partnership with Cool Earth.

“BAL is proud to be the only company in the tile industry to have become a partner of Cool Earth where fixers, contractors and specifiers using our products are making a measurable difference to protecting the rainforest.

“Thanks to our partnership, 16 indigenous Ashaninka villages in Peru’s Ene Valley have been linked together to shield millions of acres of neighbouring forest from illegal logging and coca which is destroying the forest.

“As well as protecting the local populace, Cool Earth’s ground-breaking work has helped protect 19 endangered species and shelter more than 8,000 species of animal at risk.

“Our partnership with Cool Earth is just part of our commitment to the environment, which also includes setting the highest standards in environmental management through the product life cycle from raw materials sourcing, product manufacture and consumer use.”

So far Cool Earth has already saved over 541,000 acres from deforestation – an area larger than Greater London. Protecting some 129 million trees has prevented over 140 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

To find out more about BAL’s partnership with Cool Earth visit www.coolearth.org/bal