Lush rainforests bordering the Essequibo River in the northern Amazon nation of Guyana are home to many endangered species, including the tapir, the harpy eagle, the black caiman, and the giant armadillo.  They also form part of the largest intact wilderness in the world.  In 2002, CI signed an agreement with Guyana’s Forestry Commission to protect these forests by leasing 200,000 acres of land.  Under this agreement, the government of Guyana receives fees from CI in place of fees that logging companies would have paid for timber concessions.  CI also makes investments in economic development for local communities. 

Instead of cutting down trees and destroying Guyana’s natural habitat, the region is kept in its pristine state through the world’s first ever “Conservation Concession.”

In 2006, Save Your World, a natural personal care products company, stepped in to help finance CI’s conservation concession. The company quickly created its own formula to support its conservation values: One Product = One Acre of Rainforest Saved for One Year. Save Your World ensures this by donating a portion of sales from its products directly to pay the concession fees to the Government of Guyana. 

“Save Your World is committed to protecting our world’s natural resources for future generations,” says Save Your World President Scott Cecil. “We believe that people can live in harmony with nature.”

 “Save Your World’s commitment to conservation and interest in our work continues to help us in the fight to save endangered places and improve the lives of those who live there,” said CI’s Chief Economist Dick Rice.

Save Your World’s unique approach also helps ensure that their contribution to conservation is sustainable, by building it directly into their business model.  Further, by focusing on a conservation concession approach, the company ensures a concrete outcome, measurable in acres, for every product sold. 

The partnership between CI and Save Your World supports a mechanism for achieving biodiversity conservation that is beneficial to both people and their environment.  The approach makes conservation an economically viable alternative to timber revenues.  As a result, it has successfully made foregoing logging acceptable to the government of Guyana and local communities.  This arrangement is cost-effective for CI and Save Your World, and beneficial for Guyana’s overall economic development.

For more information, please visit www.saveyourworld.com.