Products That Protect Biodiversity

If the seasonal consumer excesses get to you, why not pick up some gifts that can actually help endangered animals and plants? Giving to others and giving back to the planet can go hand in hand. Below, just a few of the problems for which you and those on your gift list can be part of the solution.

Protecting Forest Plants and Animals

Problem: Every year, 50 million acres of rainforest are cut down. Still the world's richest region for biodiversity, with many as-yet undiscovered species of animals and plants, the Amazon rain forest protects almost 200 threatened species of animals.

Solution: Adopt an acre of Chile's Validivian Temperate Forest and support rare species such as the huemel deer and the guina wildcat. Adoption will help The Nature Conservancy to purchase and preserve 150,000 acres of land ($75 for 1 acre, www.nature.org/joinanddonate/adoptanacre).

Solution: Get in shape on an EcoYoga mat made with natural Amazon rubber and jute. Saving the Amazon's natural-rubber industry preserves forestland and sustains local communities ($73.60 includes shipping cost, www.yoga.co.uk/ecoyoga/acatalog/Yoga_Mats.html). For mattresses with natural latex cores, Lifekind offers a twin ($995), a crib size ($395) and a "maton" for two-and-a half- to five-year-olds ($495). At www.lifekind.com, 800-284-4983.

Problem: Endangered South and Central American rain-forest plants such as quinine, cats claw and dragon's blood tree are collected for herb and medicinal trade and threatened by deforestation.

Solution: Buy herbs, nuts and rain-forest remedies harvested in sustainable ways, such as Rain-Tree's skin products: Rainforest Revive (4 oz., $16.95) and Rainforest Body Butter (4 oz., $14.95) at www.Rain-Tree.com, 800-780-5902. Leslie Taylor, Rain-Tree's owner, has her own harvesting programs set up with local indigenous communities in Brazil and Peru. Taylor says they "prune from the top of trees rather than cut the whole tree down."

Rainforest Remedies are produced by the Ix Chel Foundation, which supports organic production of rain-forest herbs used in traditional healing. Belly Be Good Extract and Cold Season Extract come in 1-oz. bottles for $10.95 each (www.abundantearth.com).

Under the auspices of Conservation International (CI), Ecuador is producing buttons, boxes and other handcrafts made from tagua, or "vegetable ivory," the nut of the Cabeza palm. CI's initiative has produced almost 2,000 jobs in local communities and preserves rain-forest areas from destruction.

Brazil nut trees grow only in the wild. Purchasing CI's products helps preserve rain-forest areas in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. Tagua chess sets ($120) and boxes ($13) and Yachana chocolate with Brazil nuts (2 oz. for $3.20) are available at www.Oneworldprojects.com, 585-343-4490.

Protecting Coral Reefs

Problem: We in the U.S. are the primary world consumers of tropical aquarium fish, live coral and dead coral used for jewelry. In 1997, 11 percent of the world's reefs were lost to bleaching caused by El Niño and global warming, accelerating the decline of living reefs and the destruction of fisheries habitats. Also the loss of coral reefs, which serve as breakwaters, increases hurricane damage to mangrove forests and other coastal areas, as well as flooding due to sea-level rise.

Solutions: Whether shopping at home or while traveling, read labels and ask what jewelry, clothing and other items are made from and where they were produced. Don't buy if they are made of coral, skin, bone or feathers of threatened species such as vicuna, elephants or conchs. Some Asian traditional medicines may contain rhino horn, seahorses (supposedly for sexual vigor) or tiger, leopard and musk-deer parts. For more information on identifying products made from threatened species, see the website of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (www.cites.org).

Instead, enjoy the benefits of reefs by surfing (they produce some of the best waves) or diving to view the fish (but be careful not to touch or walk on coral). You can even help preserve the reefs by visiting spots such as Chumbe Island Coral Park in Tanzania, winner of the 2000 United Nations Environment Program Global 500 award, where your dollars help keep the area from being used for more exploitative purposes and support the local fishermen now being trained as park rangers. The Great Barrier Reef and St. Lucia's Soufriere Marine Management Area also have responsible ecotour options. Contact ReefCheck.org for their coordinators in over 60 countries around the world for expeditions on local reefs (rcheck@ucla.edu, 310-794-4985).

To help protect Panama's Gulf of Chiriqui reefs and others, you can donate to The Nature Conservancy's Rescue the Reef program (www.nature.org/joinanddonate/rescuereef).

Fight global warming, which kills off coral through "bleaching" when symbiotic algae that give coral energy are expelled by coral stressed from rising ocean temperatures. To help absorb CO2, a major greenhouse gas, have a tree planted in the name of a loved one ($16.81 per tree, www.futureforests.com). Or have 10 trees planted in Central America and one in the U.S. through TreeGivers and Sustainable Harvest International ($32.95, www.treegivers.com, 800-862-8733). Sarah Kennedy, SHI's outreach director, notes, "In many cases the land is almost unusable, since the topsoil is gone, so we encourage alley planting using fast-growing trees, such as madre de cacao, with deep tap roots to draw nitrogen up to the surface."

Protecting Endangered Animals

Problem: The Iberian lynx, the most threatened of all wild cats, has been reduced to 300 animals in Spain and Portugal. Human encroachment on territory now threatens the survival of these cats just as it does the survival of whales, tigers, polar bears and many other species.

Solutions: Help save the Iberian lynx and other wild cats by purchasing coasters (6 for $5.25), mouse pads ($7.50) and shirts ($16-$29) from the International Society for Endangered Cats (www.isec.org/products/quick-prod.htm, 614-487-8760).

Help Audubon preserve America's birds by purchasing their plush bird toys, made by Wild Republic, which reproduce authentic sounds ($7.50; www.wildrepublic.com, 800-800-9678). Or you can house your local bluebirds while aiding the National Wildlife Federation by purchasing a Bluebird House from Backyard Nature Products ($25.99, www.everythingwild.com/product.aspx?p=112225(base)). Art for the Animals allows donations to be made to a number of conservation funds that protect elephants, gorillas, cheetahs and many other animals as well as biodiverse regions. For a $30 donation, you can receive 4 Masai beaded Wildlife Ornaments and help conserve the African heartlands (www.artfortheanimals.org).

Resources

Conservation International's Biodiversity Hot Spots and Investigate Biodiversity (www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots, investigate.conservation.org/xp/IB)

World Wildlife Fund's Biodiversity Education Framework (www.worldwildlife.org/windows/education_guides.cfm#1)

The World Conservation Union (www.iucn.org)

Traffic monitors and reports on wildlife trade (www.traffic.org)