You toucan save the rainforest

The Amazon rainforest – home to half of all known species and 70% of all known cancer-busting plants – is disappearing fast. But you can buy up a bit of it for just £65 an acre. This isn’t an offer from a shady real estate dealer, and you won’t be able to use your “personal conservation zone” for a second home. You will get a certificate, though, and a grid reference – so you can pay a virtual visit to it on Save the Amazon Rainforest Organization’s website at www.staro.org. The idea is to save it from illegal logging and to fund sustainable farming projects on the land.

7 July 2006