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By Kirsty, September 23, 2010 4:15 pm

Sustainable forestry student Tatiana Prudence Eboua – who Virgin Balloon Flights have supported with donations to the TFT’s Centre for Social Excellence in the Congo – is currently enjoying her Equatorial Forest Company (CEB) work placement in Bambidie, Gabon. There she is helping the company to manage a forest area of 600,000 hectares (that’s an area bigger than 700 football pitches!).

Tatiana’s main aim whilst on her placement is to implement plans to engage with the communities living within the concession, ensuring the company take on board all the needs of the local communities to thoroughly safeguard the future of the forest and its inhabitants.

The photograph above (left) shows Tatiana interviewing a group of local women from a forest site in East Cameroon finding out their thoughts and views on access, protection, resources and rights of the forest.

James Mudie from the TFT says there are two primary points for Tatiana to focus on during her internship: “Firstly, Tatiana will facilitate the establishment of an agricultural programme, in Ogooue-Lolo. The company, through its social forest management component, is trying to establish this community programme using their own finance loaned to the communities themselves to build a long-term sustainable business. Tatiana’s role combines fieldwork and institutional work for the Centre of Social Excellence (CSE) and she is helping the communities to decide what they want to do, whether small livestock farming, or planting cocoa or coffee.
“The other task under her responsibility is the establishment of partnerships for training local communities. She is helping them to get training and advice from local specialised organisations and other agencies that could assist in capacity building and training. Her skill in moderation and conflict management, (gained at the CSE), is enabling her to reconcile the sometimes divergent expectations of all stakeholders leading to much more successful partnerships.”

Tatiana is over half way through her placement now and has until November 2010 to meet her goal and implement the changes and relationships that are so important to the future of the forest.

We wish Tatiana the best of luck with her final few months in Gabon and look forward to congratulating her when she graduates.

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By Alex, May 18, 2010 12:47 pm

The Virgin Group has published its first report on corporate responsibility and sustainable development which features some of the work we’re doing at Virgin Balloon Flights.

Virgin Group's Corporate Responsibility and Sustainable Development Report

What is it?

Well, it’s a story that highlights the enormous range of corporate responsibility and sustainability issues the Virgin companies face operating in so many different sectors, and what we’re doing about them. Usually reports like this can be pretty dull and not many people read them so instead, we’ve put the customer at the centre of the story to make it more relevant to the reader. We’ve described different aspects of our customers’ lifestyles and the sustainability issues associated.

Where does Virgin Balloon Flights fit in?

We’re proud that what we do puts smiles on people’s faces, makes dreams come true and contributes to the well-being of thousands of airborne adventurers each year.  However we know we need to do much more by considering the wider impact we have on people and our planet. We are at an early stage of this journey but we are committed to taking practical steps towards a more sustainable future and doing business like there is a tomorrow.

Read the Relax and have fun and chapter to find about the exciting work we’ve been doing with The Forest Trust (TFT) and Worn Again plus what  others like Virgin Wines, Virgin Media and Virgin Books have been up to.

Other things we’ve done at Virgin Balloon Flights  include:

In 2009 we switched our balloon flight vouchers, gift wallets, souvenir brochures, envelopes, letter heads and compliments slips to FSC accredited 100% recycled paper and card.

So far in 2010 we’ve raised nearly £1,000 for charities including Virgin Unite, MacMillan and the British Heart Foundation and donated balloon trips to be auctioned for other good causes.

You can also check out the latest stories about things we’ve been doing for charity and for the environment.

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By Kirsty, May 17, 2010 3:40 pm

Tatiana (left) and her Mother at DESS graduation

Virgin Balloon Flights is delighted to introduce Tatiana Prudence Eboua  a new sustainable forestry student at the TFT Centre of Social Excellence and the second person we have sponsored.

Following Raphael Tsanga’s recent graduation, 30-year-old Tatiana is hoping to follow in his footsteps at the centre in the Congo Basin and to help protect the tropical forest in the future

Just a few  weeks ago our eager new scholar, from Libreville, Gabon, started her course after making it through a vigorous interview process. Already the proud possessor of a Masters Degree in Anthropology and a Post Masters specialisation in ‘Economy & Sustainable Forest with Environmental Resource Management,’ Tatiana believes the CSE can aid “…a solution to the problem of environmental degradation and allow the populations in the country to have a better quality of life.”

Arriving at CSE

Here at Virgin Balloon Flights we believe in supporting the forests alongside the wellbeing of real people in developing countries to enable education and therefore conservation of our natural world. Since 2009 we have been donating £1 for every ton of carbon our business created annually to the TFT’s Climate Tree Initiative choosing specifically to support the CSE project.

Tatiana is confident she will gain the qualifications through the CSE to successfully help manage forest economic objectives as well as ensuring health and safety and cohabitation are significantly improved.

“When I join active work life, I would like to evolve in a setting allowing me to stay in contact with humans and nature, and the training at the CSE offers me this opportunity. I want to be a social officer, to

Off to fetch water, a reality of life at the CSE

help the promotion of an improved cohabitation between the different stakeholders, implicated in forest management and conservation (governments, companies, workers, populations) with the main objective for respect and acknowledgments of principles, criteria, indicators and social, environmental as well as economic objectives of forest management”

“My message to Virgin … in helping the CSE, it is humanity as a whole that you are preserving. Thank you.”

We look forward to keeping you up to date with Tatiana’s progress through her classroom and work based study over the forthcoming months!

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By Alex, March 26, 2010 3:40 pm

Raph makes his final presentation

At Virgin Balloon Flights we have donated £1 for every tonne of carbon our business created in 2009 to the Climate Tree which aims to deliver significant climate change benefits through the conservation of forests. We chose to specificallty support the CSE because we wanted to contribute to the well being of people as well as forests.

Raph, who previously graduated from Yaounde University in Public Law, specialising in Environmental Law, says:  

“I applied to the CSE for three reasons: to improve my knowledge of tropical forest management and indigenous peoples living in the forest, learn to develop innovative strategies to include local communities into the management of forest resources and master the practical aspects of social forestry.”

While at the CSE, Raph proved himself to be an excellent student and all the teaching staff have nothing but praise for the quality of his work and his commitment. He says learning from the CSE’s well-respected trainers was an emotional experience and he also enjoyed the Congolese cuisine.

Raph (2nd from right) arrives at the Forest Trust's Centre for Social Excellence in the Congo Basin last year

“Under the canopy of the forests in the Congo Basin are peoples whose cultural identity and lifestyle depend on this ecosystem. To manage this forest sustainably means extracting timber while taking into account the rights of indigenous peoples to conserve their cultural identity and to benefit from the economic advantages consecutive to the exploitation of the forest resources,” he says.

“To buy wood from a forest sustainably managed means contributing to the upkeep of the ecologic and social integrity of tropical forests; the conservation of the forests of the Congo Basin will be achieved in collaboration with the indigenous populations living there, or it will not be achieved at all.”

Raph’s ambition is to become a quality assurance manager for a forest company. He says:

“In that framework my missions will include the monitoring of management norms, the collation of information and follow-up of legal dispositions relative to social rights, respect for engagements of forest companies towards neighbouring communities or living inside forest management units.”

Raph (far right) with fellow students on graduation day.

“It will include the verification of legal origin of timber produced and exported as well as their traceability, all in the aim of production in conformity to FSC principles,” he adds.

Find out more or make a donation to TFT’s Climate Tree initiative