‘Turning Welsh CO2 into Kenyan Cashew Nuts’
The Lampeter/Bore Community Carbon Link aims to link Lampeter in West Wales with the community of Bore in Kenya. Wales has a very high per capita carbon footprint (12th highest in the world) and because we have been pumping CO2 into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution, we have a particular responsibility to do what we can to compensate for our share of the damage.
Unfortunately, it is not us but the poor communities of tropical Africa that are bearing the brunt of the climatic changes that we have helped to create. As global temperatures rise, the Sahara is moving south making it harder for these people to survive year by year.
The latest research indicates that we get the greatest ‘cooling effect’ from trees and forests located by the equator and the Stern Report (2006) clearly identified the protection of the tropical forests as the first priority in addressing climate change. For these reasons, it makes very good sense for us to focus on planting trees and protecting forest in tropical latitudes.
The Lampeter/Bore Community Carbon Link is a new initiative funded by the Welsh Assembly Government’s Gold Star Communities Scheme which aims to encourage all sectors of the community to reduce their carbon footprint by sponsoring the planting of cashew nut trees with the partner community in Kenya. As they grow, these trees withdraw carbon from the air, reduce desertification and produce a high-protein cash crop that provides farmers with an alternative to their current staple income of cutting down existing forest to make charcoal.
Each cashew tree can be sponsored for £2.50 all of which goes out to the Kenyan community.
Lampeter/Bore Community Carbon Link is also a flagship project within the ‘Size of Wales’ Scheme. This is a Wales-wide national initiative, launching this summer, that aims to protect 2 million hectares of tropical forest in Africa
Lampeter is a small market town in beautiful rural Wales. It is a Transition Town and is the second largest centre of organic production in the UK. It is unique in the area as, due to the University’s subject specialisms such as Islamic and Chinese Studies, the town has become genuinely multi-cultural with an outward looking philosophy. The University houses the region’s only Muslim prayer room and the nearby European Institute of Human Sciences was developed to create a greater awareness of the authentic and balanced teachings of Islam amongst the Muslim community of Europe and beyond. Lampeter also hosts one of Wales’ two Confucius Institutes promoting the Chinese language and culture.
The University in Lampeter is entering into an exciting development following the recent agreement to form a new university together with nearby Trinity University College. The new University of Wales: Trinity St David will have widening access and sustainable development as part of its core mission; and this exciting new project reflects this commitment in a very real way.
Unique Tree Planting Event with Live Satellite Video Link
Aim
- To link the community of Lampeter and West Wales with the community of Bore in Kenya by live satellite video link and simultaneous tree planting to show how we can work together to protect our shared atmosphere
Locations
- University of Wales Lampeter campus, Ceredigion, UK
- Kundeni Primary School, Bore, Malindi, Kenya
At 1pm on Friday 26th June 2009 a group of Lampeter students and staff who have established the voluntary group ‘The Great Primate Handshake’ will be helping children and village elders from Bore (pronounced Boray) plant cashew nut trees in the grounds of the Kundeni primary school near Malindi in Kenya’s Coastal Province. At the same time a group of guests will help children from Aberaeron Primary School plant trees on the University of Wales Lampeter campus.
The two tree planting groups will be connected by live satellite video link enabling the two groups of children to communicate in real time.
Event Partners
University of Wales (Lampeter) Dept. of Widening Access,
www.lamp.ac.uk/wideningaccess/
Lampeter/Bore Community Carbon Link,
www.treeflights.com/lampeter-bore.html
Primate Handshake Productions,
www.primatehandshake.org/
Aberaeron primary school, Kundeni primary school.
