Giving 1% of the UK’s climate finance directly to people who live in rainforests is the most cost-effective way to protect forests and stop the climate crisis.

According to climate change charity, Cool Earth, this simple solution could save as much as 33 million tonnes of carbon from being released into the atmosphere each year.

It is an idea that the charity put to Government officials and environmentalists this week during an event led by Tony Juniper MBE, Lord Deben and Baroness Natalie Bennett.

Matthew Owen, Director of Cool Earth said, “We’re asking for £115 million just 1% of the UK’s climate finance funds to go straight to rainforest communities, the people who have been protecting tropical forests for thousands of years. With this small shift, we could keep 33 million tonnes of carbon locked in the ground, year on year. This method is cheap, it’s proven, and it works.”

According to the World Resource Institute, Indigenous Peoples and local communities hold or manage 54% of the world's remaining forests. As of 2020 there are 1.13 billion hectares of intact forests in the world. 610 million hectares of this is looked after by Indigenous peoples or local communities.