The TerraVerde Foundation

The TerraVerde Foundation is a non-profit Panamanian Private Interest Foundation dedicated to the sustainable preservation of Earth’s Flora, Fauna and Water Resources. Our primary Mission is to Protect, Conserve and Enhance the Forest Reserves, Refuges and Wildlife for which we are responsible and to assist in the protection of other Forests anywhere in the world through collaborative relationships where appropriate (see below).

The dwindling Frontier Forests and other Mature Forests of the world are global ecological assets on which the whole of mankind depends and the protection of these Forest assets must be of concern to all informed individuals aware of the consequences of their continued destruction. The MicroForest Program was created by the TerraVerde Foundation to allow public participation in the protection of these Forests. The Program takes a uniquely different approach by providing a vehicle for individuals to sponsor and acquire ownership of these Forests. Sponsorship of a MicroForest is also an effective way for families, corporations or other groups to contribute to the effort to slow climate change (global warming) by becoming Eco₂Neutral Citizens¹.
 
A MicroForests License Agreement enables the TerraVerde Foundation to work together with Fundación Pan America and it’s operating company Pan America Sociedad Anonima (MMVII) PANAMERSA (panamersa.com and panamersa.net) to protect Flora , Fauna and Water Resources in all it’s Forest real estate holdings and projects including: Las Huacas de Boquete and the Canal Zone in Panama, PORT SAE La Fortaleza Park, and the severely threatened dry Forests of the Corobici Wild-Life Refuge in Costa Rica plus other important Forest real estate holdings to be announced.

The MicroForest Program focuses on the protection of Frontier, Mature and established Secondary Forests. This emphasis is a reflection of their high economic and ecological value and the “services” provided by these Forests. Humanity relies on the established Forest ecosystems of the world to provide many familiar and important goods and commodities including: food, fodder, fuel-wood, timber, pharmaceuticals and industrial products. Forests and the innumerable life forms which live within them also provide a range of services which are indispensable to human life and civilization. These services include: air and water purification, climate regulation, regeneration of soil fertility, and the maintenance of genetic and biological diversity. According to the Ecological Society of America, human activities are now significantly impairing the delivery of these services and these human-induced changes will be difficult or impossible to reverse, at least on a time scale relevant to the current population.

“Frontier Forests -- large, ecologically intact and relatively undisturbed natural forests -- are likely to survive indefinitely without human assistance.” World Resources Institute

The Forest service of increasing interest today is climate regulation. Very large amounts of carbon are stored in the trees and soils of existing Forests and if they are not disturbed this carbon can be expected to remain locked away for decades or even centuries. Many trees in Mature Forests are well over 1,000 years old² and if protected from disturbance these Forests can live a very long time. However Deforestation continues to release vast amounts of this stored carbon into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO₂) - making a very large contribution to the problem of global warming.

"FAO's newest data on the role of forests in mitigating climate change, contained in our recently Released Global Forestry Resources Assessment (FRA 2005), provide a clear picture of the contribution that forests make to countering global warming -- and of how deforestation exacerbates the problem," said Dieter Schoene, of FAO's Forestry Department. The FRA assessment also shows that the destruction of forests adds almost two billion tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere each year and "Preventing this stored carbon from escaping is important for maintaining the global carbon balance and vital to conserving the environment," according to Schoene.

The TerraVerde Foundation believes that the protection of ecologically intact Frontier Forests, Mature Forests and established Secondary Growth Forests is essential to safeguarding the future of mankind.

¹The concepts and names “MicroForest” "Eco₂Neutral Citizen” “goEco₂Neutral” and “Eco₂Neutrality” were all created by and are the property of The TerraVerde Foundation (Fundación TerraVerde). They may not be used except under License.
²Chambers, J.Q. et al., 1998 Nature; and Condit, R., et al,. 1995 Ecological Monographs; cited by Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, Tempeh Arizona USA.