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The
Oilforest Plan
Integrated
Environmental & Economic Revitalization
Program
June 1, 2008 -- by
Resolution Fund, LLC
Washington DC-based
Resolution Fund, LLC (RF) today
introduced the Oilforest Plan™,
an environmental and agricultural restoration-based
economic revitalization and biofuels program. It's
designed to help countries with large expanses of land
damaged by decades (or even centuries) of unsustainable
agriculture or timber
harvesting.
The Oilforest Plan
helps you convert
these degraded areas--such as former banana plantations,
cotton fields, etc.--into beautiful, healthy forests
that sustainably produces fuel, food, and water, while
also providing enhanced wildlife habitat.
In the Oilforest Plan, RF has
developed an integrated revitalization program that
harnesses the benefits of three global trends. The first
trend is the rapid acceptance of biodiesel, now the
second-fastest-growing alternative fuel in the world.
The second trend is cellulosic ethanol production, which
allows invasive plant species to be removed and turned
into profitable biofuel. The third trend is the global shift from new
development (sprawl) to restorative development, which
bases economic growth primarily on renewing the capacity
of what's already been developed (cities, buildings, and
infrastructure), and on repairing the damage done to
natural resources along the way.
RFI's Oilforest Plan starts by designing an economic
growth strategy for the client country that's based in
large part on restoring their watersheds, ecosystems,
fisheries, contaminated lands (brownfields),
infrastructure, historic sites, and areas damaged by
catastrophes. RF helps nations obtain the necessary
financing for all activities within the program.
The second part of the Oilforest Plan
is based on
converting banana plantations to beautiful oilforests
for the production of
vegetable oils (such as from oil palms, coconuts, and allanblack nuts) that have edible, cosmetic,
nutraceutical, and biodiesel uses. These "oil
forests" are designed so as to restore soil fertility,
renew watershed health, and enhance local biodiversity.
Tree-based oils are inherently more sustainable than
oils based on annual crops (such as corn and soybeans),
as they do not require irrigation or tilling of the
soil. With proper choice of species and
sustainable management techniques, they require few--if
any--inputs of fertilizer, pesticides, or herbicides,
whereas much banana production is dependent on all
three. Other high-value trees can also be intercropped,
such as spices, aromatic oils, etc. that can help grow
community-based businesses that use the vegetable oils
for food, soaps, and cosmetics.
Originally, most palm
oil was derived from the nut--which is fine for soaps,
detergents, and warm-climate biodiesel--but is less desirable for foods. However, the
fruit surrounding the nut has been found to produce large
quantities of a much higher-quality edible oil. Oils
derived from palm fruits have recently been shown to be
among the healthiest of oils, at least equal to olive
oil and far exceeding soybean oil in most respects. It
has been shown to produce the highest level of
protective HDL-chlolesterol and induce the greatest
production of liver LDL receptors, key to removal of
harmful LDL-cholesterol from the blood. Laboratory
rats fed a
palm oil-enriched diet were found to have a reduced
tendency for blood clotting.
The Oilforest Plan
program is led by Storm
Cunningham, author of the seminal work on restorative
development, The Restoration Economy (Berrett-Koehler
Publishers, Nov. 2002). The Oilforest Plan
team includes many other world-class experts on subjects
such as tropical palm ecology, palm oil processing,
agroforestry, restorative agriculture, integrated
revitalization planning, watershed restoration, fishery
restoration, biodiesel production, and more.
The Oilforest Plan website is at
http://resolutionfund.com/oilforest.html
Contact:
Storm Cunningham, CEO
Resolution Fund, LLC
1300
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Suite 700, Ronald Reagan Building
Washington, DC 20004
USA
202-204-3040
storm@resolutionfund.com
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