Saving the Planet tree by tree - Naturewalk leads the way

NATUREWALK, Costa Rica announces a new program to plant 750 new trees for each ecological teak subdivision lot sold at NATUREWALK.

Nature walk is a teak plantation of 100ha, close to the developed tourist resort of Jaco. With 300 building and development lots at NATUREWALK this new program will lead to the planting if up to 225,000 new trees for Costa Rica.

If each tree sequesters approximately 50 lbs of carbon per year this adds up to 11,250,000 lbs/5625 tons of carbon per yr.


Sustainable Forests benefits include
• carbon sequestration
• Helps to deter the illegal cutting of the Tropical Rain Forests.
• Socio-economic benefits including local employment in a "green" activity,

James Cahill from Costa Rica Invest said that “this is a part of a NATUREWALK’s sustainable commitment to replant unused pasture land with sustainable forests in a repeating and expanding cycle to replant Costa Rica in forest and achieve Costa Rica's goal of Carbon Neutral status by 2021”

Tim Alexander, commented, “we hope that this new idea will become the sustainable model for responsible development in Costa Rica and other Tropical Countries.”


Tropical trees account for 95% of all tree-based CO2 sequestration on the planet. Generally, the tropics are the areas between 23 degrees North and South of the equator. The average tropical tree sequesters a minimum of 50 lbs or 22.6 kg of carbon per annum. The woody biomass of a tropical tree is significantly denser than its boreal softwood counterparts, which is why tropical trees are usually hardwoods. In excess of 50% of a tropical trees woody biomass is sequestered carbon, which is why tropical trees are so important in the fight against global warming and climate change. Tropical trees also deposit or sequester carbon in the soil, though the amount trapped in the soil depends on local soil conditions and altitude. Consider this: tropical trees work 12 months of the year sequestering carbon, while boreal trees only work 3 months of the year. Most tropical hardwoods grow to maturity quickly (10 to 20 years), while their boreal counterparts take 80 to 120 years to achieve the same diameter as a softwood

Airlines Reduce Carbon Emissions

Reuters reports that, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced that it would achieve carbon neutral growth from 2020 through a combination of investment in technology, biofuels and economic measures such as carbon trading. Airlines also project that carbon trading will cost the industry about $7 billion from 2020, based on a carbon price of $65 a metric ton in 2020.

Some US airlines have reduced their flights in response to plummeting demand for travel and freight, and carriers in Asia and Europe are likely to make similar scheduling cuts to allay their operating costs, according to IATA, which estimates the airline industry will lose $9 billion this year.

In the United States, Northwest Airlines has excluded spoons from its cutlery pack if the in-flight meal does not require one."When you are talking about a jumbo jet with 400 people on board, being served two to three meals, this can save a few kilos," he said. American Airlines said fuel-saving measures have helped it save more than 110 million gallons of fuel annually and reduced its carbon emissions by 2.3 billion pounds in 2008. It aims to save 120 million gallons of fuel and reduce carbon emissions by 2.5 billion pounds in 2009.

Another carrier, JAL of Japan, took everything it loaded from a 747 and put it on the floor of a school gym to see what it really needed. As a result it shaved a fraction of a centimetre off all its cutlery to cut weight. Other carriers have come up with all sorts of ingenious initiatives to shift the flab off their aircraft. In-flight magazines are going and carriers are even putting their duty-free catalogues onto the seat-back televisions. Catering trolleys are becoming lighter and less water - both bottled and in the tank - is being loaded.

The next generation of aircraft seats is likely to be up to 30 per cent lighter than the current generation, with composite replacing aluminium. Reinforced carbon fibre is used for the shields for the in-flight televisions, cutting the weight by as much as half. At the same time the industry is looking to step up the use of alternative carbon-free bio-fuels, which should account for up to six per cent of the industry total by 2020.

A number of carriers, including Virgin Atlantic, Continental and Air New Zealand, have carried out trials of alternative fuels.

Up to 100 European airports are also preparing to change their standards on planes landing procedures, shifting to a "continuous descent approach", or CDA, that makes for a smoother descent and cuts carbon emissions by 160 kg to 470 kg per flight.

These plans add to the financial crisis currently faced by the airlines industry. IATA, representing 230 airlines, estimates a $9 billion loss for the airline industry in 2009 on top of a revised loss of $10.4 billion in 2008, reports Space Daily. The organization also said that the industry spent $165 billion on fuel in 2008, representing 31 percent of costs.

IATA also restated the industry’s previous environmental goals to cut absolute emissions by 50 percent by 2050, and improve average fuel efficiency 1.5 percent annually between now and 2020. Airlines will reduce their carbon emissions by nearly 8 percent this year as they slash the number of flights they operate in line with a drop in cargo and passenger demand, and about 6 percent of the forecast carbon cut will come as a result of carriers flying fewer planes in 2009, and a further 1.8 percent reflects steps to improve energy efficiency, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.

To calculate your own carbon count (how much carbon you use per year) click here

To read more about bio fuels trials in aircraft, click here

What is my carbon count number?

Where can I find my carbon count number?

Change.ie an Irish Government run website has an excellent carbon count calculator which quickly and easily shows your carbon count number.

Your carbon count number is an estimate of the number of tonnes of carbon you and your lifestyle emit into the atmosphere per year.

You can then compare yourself to the EU average over a number of areas, home, travel, air travel and it also makes suggestions as to how you might change your lifesatyle and reduce your carbon count number.

Are you aware that 1ha will take in about 3.5 tonnes of carbon per annum.

An investment in Di Pacifico Dos will:

1. Help reduce your carbon footprint
2. Help reduce jungle logging of tropical hardwoods
3. Give you a great return

If you would like more information about Di Pacifico Dos - "teak on your development land, the perfect investment" - just drop us an e mail, apply for a brochure or give us a call on +353 1 272 4184