Who's safeguarding the lungs of our planet?

Who's safeguarding the lungs of our planet?
	MARCH 2011 |

	INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FORESTS: Celebrating the Lungs of Our Planet. Because it is the International Year of Forests, each month the Rainforest Alliance website is highlighting an individual, community or business that is actively safeguarding a forest landscape. We’re also featuring a description of a unique species of flora found within one of the ecosystems in which we work.

	STEWARDS OF THE FOREST: T.R. Shankar Raman & Divya Mudappa.For 15 years, these scientists and spouses have worked to conserve India’s Western Ghats -- a biodiversity hotspot providing habitat for leopards, Asian elephants and Bengal tigers.						For centuries, communities in Honduras’ Moskitia region lived in harmony with their surroundings. In recent years, however, deforestation and the conversion of forest to farmland have increased pressures on this area, threatening to destroy the source of local livelihoods. The Rainforest Alliance is working to help communities in the Moskitia benefit from sustainable land management and adapt to the impacts of global climate change.
	BIODIVERSITY SPOTLIGHT: Brazil Nut Tree. Famous for reaching heights of over 160 feet, the Brazil nut tree -- which bears a nutritionally rich, baseball-sized fruit -- towers above its surroundings in the Amazon rainforest.