News Spotlight: Indigenous Leaders Sign Landmark Carbon Deal in Philippines

One of the last strongholds of forest in the Philippines just got a major boost.

Indigenous leaders on the island of Palawan recently signed a landmark deal to establish the country’s first locally owned forest carbon project. The project, which places a monetary value on the potentially climate-warming carbon stored in trees, aims to halt deforestation through the sale of carbon credits — effectively making the forest more valuable alive than cut down.

• Find out more: What are ‘carbon credits’?

The deal, signed by Conservation International and the Philippine government’s National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, will help protect 39,000 hectares (97,000 acres) of forest within Palawan’s Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape, an area considered the last ecological frontier of the country, Mariejo Ramos reported for the news site Context.

• Further reading: Conservation International and Procter & Gamble have worked in the Mantalingahan landscape to support climate efforts, mangrove conservation and community livelihoods. Read more here.