Posted on: Thursday, October 4, 2001
Grants
Advertiser Staff
The Research & Development Department of the County of Hawai'i recently announced a grant of $5,000 to the TREES FOR LIFE Foundation. The grant is seed money to help develop a new market for Hawai'i Carbon Credits.
This market is agriculture based, providing ranchers, farmers and landowners an opportunity for extra revenue, calculated on an increased tonnage of carbon dioxide absorbed by land they manage.
Private, state and federal organizations are participating in this pilot project, which combines 11 projects from four landowners, for a total of 50,000 acres. Their proposed sale of carbon credits is expected to open doors, attracting new financing to encourage conservation, to expand forestry and to support economic development for rural communities in Hawai'i County.
TREES FOR LIFE Foundation is a nonprofit corporation formed in 1996 to pay for accelerated reforestation around the world.
Early in their planning they learned how reforestation benefits air quality by absorbing atmospheric carbon and increasing the oxygen supply.
Preliminary estimates suggest that, at minimum, 3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide will be absorbed by Big Island forest projects. Periodic measurements will determine exactly how much is absorbed and how much payment land owners will receive.
• Lanakila Rehabilitation Center Inc., also known as Lanakila Crafts, was recently awarded a $45,000 grant from Philip Morris Companies Inc. to purchase a delivery vehicle and additional meals for Lanakila Meals on Wheels Service's participants.
City Council Chairman Jon Yoshimura, Lanakila Board President Henry Wong, Lanakila President and chief executive officer Laura Colbert, Meals on Wheels Director May Fujii Foo and Meals and Wheels Home Delivery Coordinator Remy Rueda accepted the check on behalf of Hawai'i's senior community. The grant will enable Lanakila to serve an additional 100 homebound seniors weekend meals for a year.
Lanakila is a nonprofit organization that has served the community for more than 62 years. It provides vocational rehabilitation services for people with mental and physical disabilities and meal service to more than 1,750 seniors each day.
• Tiffany & Co. on Maui has presented a $1,000 donation to Maui Coastal Land Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving Maui coastlines as open spaces.
"We are honored to welcome Tiffany & Co. as the first corporate member of our Founders' Circle," said Diane Zachary, vice president of the land trust. "We launch our first major membership drive this August, and having Tiffany on board from the onset gives us great encouragement for the campaign."
Established in 2000, the land trust is an organization of public and private community members concerned with land conservation on Maui, Moloka'i and Lana'i.
For more information on Maui Coastal Land Trust, call 244-5263.
