PROTECTING LANDSCAPES

We work across the globe to protect vulnerable landscapes threatened by deforestation, mining, logging and infrastructure projects.

We’re pushing for systemic change where supply chains for the food we eat and the products we buy are based on protecting the earth and upholding human rights.

LATIN AMERICA

We’re working in Latin America to protect the Amazon, Cerrado and other precious ecosystems. The Amazon rainforest is close to an irreversible tipping point, where vast areas of the rainforest will die back and turn to dry savannahs. Cattle and animal feed companies have bulldozed and burned more than half of the Cerrado. The people and wildlife that live there need healthy ecosystems for their survival. The biggest driver of deforestation in both these biomes: the meat industry.

AFRICA

Mighty Earth is working to protect key African ecosystems from destructive agriculture practices. The Upper Guinean tropical forests cover large parts of West Africa, extending from Guinea in the west to Togo in the east, and once formed a dense canopy extending a few hundred north from the Atlantic coast. A global biodiversity hotspot, this landscape has come under intense pressure from mining and farming, with crops such as cocoa, palm oil, and rubber replacing much of the native forest in countries like Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. In the northern parts of the region, the dense humid tropical forest gives way to a wooded savannah landscape, home to rare plant species and wildlife which are under pressure from the rapid expansion of cashew farming. Mighty Earth is working with our local partners in the region to bring a halt to this destruction and restore the native forests and wildlife habitats.

The Lower Guinean and Western Congo Basin forests dominate the landscape of West Central Africa, occupying southern Benin and Nigeria, and extending to the south into Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. These critical habitats, home to much of Africa’s remaining lowland tropical rainforests and associated wildlife, are also under attack, with large scale rubber and palm oil plantations contributing to widespread deforestation, alongside pressures such as illegal timber extraction and mining. Mighty Earth is working in the region to hold large commodity companies to account to reverse this devastation.

ASIA

Asia Pacific holds beautiful forests and diverse species, making the region a hotspot for transformation as it lies at the center of the biodiversity crisis. Mighty Earth is stopping deforestation while working to decarbonize the hardest-to-abate sectors like steel and aluminum. Our work on forests and biodiversity spans across Mekong, East Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia’s forests are home to abundance of plants and animals, hosting four of the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots. But the region has  also been a major global deforestation front. Palm oil and the pulp and paper industries have driven deforestation, particularly in Indonesia. Millions of hectares of forests were cut down and replaced with palm oil monocultures. The pulp and paper industry destroyed a further million hectares or more. Southeast Asia also produces the vast majority of the world’s rubber, and increasing demand for rubber means even more deforestation in the region. It is time for industry to heal the damage and work toward restoration and conservation.