Android phones help save Amazon Rainforest

Yahoo News reports.

With the help of Facebook tools such as Android smartphones, members of the Surui tribe measured the carbon stock of their lands in the Amazon Rainforest. The tribe members submitted a proposal to the Rainforest Alliance, which was approved last month, enabling the tribe to sell their carbon offsets on the global carbon market.

The Surui will sell their carbon offsets to companies interested in compensating for their greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide) emissions made through electricity, manufacturing or transportation, Mashable writes.

In addition to securing the Amazon Rainforest's future, purchasing Surui carbon comes with the social benefit of knowing that the purchase helps the tribe preserve its traditional culture on its ancestral lands.

“It's not just about absolute greenhouse gas reduction, there's this social benefit to this project, too,” Google Earth Outreach director Rebecca Moore told Mashable. “If you have different carbon offsets that you can purchase, the tribe wants you to learn about their culture, before you chose your purchase.”