Conservation / Climate Change

The Carbon Cycle and Climate Change
Life on Earth is based on carbon - it is a key element of all living matter and is released and re-absorbed in a continual process known as the Carbon Cycle. This cycle basically sees an ongoing exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) between the atmosphere and the Earth. This natural exchange is sustainable and healthy, as the carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere helps to trap the heat of the sun, thus regulating the Earth's temperatures to create an environment that is comfortably warm and suitable for life.

So how does the cycle work?

Plants absorb carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis and then release it once plants decay back into the atmosphere. The ocean also exchanges carbon with the atmosphere at similar levels, with dissolved carbon dioxide being utilised in photosynthesis by marine organisms.

Thus, the carbon cycle is an age-old and natural process that is part of the reason we are able to survive on Earth at all.

However...
Since the Industrial Revolution, increased levels of carbon dioxide have been released into the atmosphere. This has mainly been as a result of the burning of fossil fuels and the subsequent release of so-called greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (but including others such as methane) that have been implicated in global warming. For example pre-industrial carbon dioxide levels have risen by more than a third!

In short, the release of carbon into the atmosphere now occurs at a rate that outstrips the ability of the planet to reabsorb it. This increase in rates of release is exacerbated by a decreased capacity for absorption as a result of deforestation and other factors. In other words, the world's carbon sinks, or absorption points - places like the Amazon or Congo - that are essential parts of the world's carbon cycle, are being destroyed and impacted on in a way that affects not only local biodiversity but also global climate.

Put bluntly, if carbon emissions continue to increase at this rate, climate change is the potentially catastrophic inevitability.

"Global warming" is the term used for the resulting climate change - not only because of the increase of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere but also because the increase itself causes more water to evaporate from the ocean and enter the atmosphere, in turn increasing the temperature a little more.

Wilderness Safaris and Climate Change
Wilderness Safaris adheres to the increasingly accepted view that carbon emissions are driving the global warming phenomenon. It is clear that everyone has a responsibility to respond to this challenge. We see our own role as threefold:

1) We contribute to the economic viability of existing carbon sinks and remaining wilderness areas of southern Africa and by doing so ensure the sustainability of their conservation. As a result we ensure that the capacity of the planet to reabsorb carbon in the areas we operate is not reduced and that the photosynthetic processes that occur in these wilderness areas are not interrupted.

2) We strive to reduce our own energy use and have set targets for reduction over the next five years. We achieve this through greater efficiencies, through constant measurement and through alternative energy sources, such as solar, that are renewable and environmentally friendly.

3) We provide a learning platform for our guests and staff that increases awareness of the global warming phenomenon and provides guidelines for how individuals can contribute to its solutions through actions in their own lives and businesses.

What about air travel?
Given that intercontinental transportation is a major contributor to carbon emissions we also believe that this is an issue that needs to be taken seriously by the ecotourism industry and its guests.

Rather than simply pay offset fees to projects that claim to offer carbon sequestration or absorption we believe it is important to understand the fundamentals of the carbon cycle and the intrinsic value of ecotourism within this cycle as a carbon sink.

What we would like to emphasise is that it is exactly this kind of travel that allows the continued existence of vitally important carbon sinks. Wilderness Safaris, as a result of its success and sustainability, enables the continued existence of 2.7 million hectares of natural land and associated photosynthetic processes.

Wilderness Safaris therefore plays an active role, through the securing of large wilderness areas, in carbon sequestration by allowing the continued sustainable operating of a small part of the carbon cycle. The success of businesses like ours in all parts of the world will play an important role in the preservation of the world's wilderness areas that we believe will ultimately save humankind.