There is real merit in projects that protect forests against clear and present threats or projects that plant trees

As deforestation threatens the health of planet Earth, Microsoft is stepping up to help regrow forests in Brazil, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Brazil’s BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group has partnered with nonprofit Conservation International on a huge reforestation project that aims to plant trees on more than 333,592 acres of farmland in Brazil’s Cerrado savanna.

The project will cost $1 billion, of which Microsoft is funding an undisclosed portion in exchange for 8 million tons of carbon offset credits.

Carbon credits are under intense scrutiny, as some kinds of credits that were previously respected are now considered by many to be worthless.

However, there is real merit in projects that protect forests against clear and present threats or projects that plant trees, because trees remove tons of carbon pollution from the air during their life span.

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has invested in planting trees. However, the WSJ reported that this deal is the largest of its kind. And Brazil is the perfect place for it, holding a huge part of the diminishing and endangered Amazon rainforest.

According to the WSJ, there are two parts to the project: Half the land will be used to grow native trees to stay there permanently, and the other half will grow trees to be harvested for timber. The timber is crucial to making the project work financially, and also, providing cultivated wood reduces the need to cut timber from wild forests.

BTG TIG, Conservation International, and Microsoft are just some of the organizations trying to protect and regrow the Amazon.

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Reported by Laurelle Steele via The Cool Down