Carbon neutrality is important to Microsoft, not only in terms of our direct carbon emissions, but also when it comes to protecting biodiversity, promoting health and wellbeing and securing food and jobs. Deforestation is estimated to account for approximately 18 percent of global carbon emissions, so we have teamed up with the CarbonNeutral Company to provide carbon finance for, among others, the Meru and Nyanyuki Community Reforestation Project in Kenya. The country has gone from having a forest cover of more than 10 percent at the turn of the 20th century, to only two percent due to deforestation, commercial agriculture, charcoal burning, forest cultivation and population growth. The aim of this project is to work with local communities to create more productive and sustainable models of economic development that reduce negative impacts on local forests and biodiversity, while simultaneously strengthening the community’s economy and wellbeing.
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(Image by Lynn Johnson, Ripple Effects)