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How protecting a forest safeguards the life we are only just beginning to discover.
Deep in Lomami National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, lives a small monkey with orange lips and a shaggy black coat. Local communities call it the Likweli. Scientists have just confirmed it as a species new to science, and it turns out to have been living quietly in that forest all along.
The Likweli, now formally named Colobus congoensis, is one of only five new African monkey species described in the past seventy-five years, and the second to be found in Lomami. It was first glimpsed in a blurry photograph back in 2008. It took nearly two decades of patient fieldwork, on foot and by canoe, to gather the evidence to confirm what it was. All that time, it was simply going about its life, high in the forest canopy, whether or not science had a name for it.
Here is the part that matters most. The forest was protected before anyone knew this monkey was there to protect. Rainforest Trust, One Tribe’s conservation partner, helped safeguard this area and supported the surveys and the anti-poaching teams that guard it against the bushmeat trade. That protection was in place long before the Likweli was confirmed as new to science.
In Rainforest Trust’s own words, the world’s newest monkey now has a safe haven in Lomami, thanks to those teams, their local partners and their supporters. The protection did not wait for proof that something rare was hiding there. It came first, and the discovery followed.
It would be easy to tell this story as though One Tribe and Rainforest Trust happened to back the right forest. That is not the lesson, and it is not how conservation works. Protecting a rainforest is never a bet on which patch will turn out to matter. Every stretch of forest holds far more than any survey has counted: species not yet described, relationships not yet understood, life carrying on regardless of whether we have catalogued it.
The Likweli did not become valuable the day it was named. It was always there, always part of what made this forest worth protecting. Naming it simply revealed a fraction of what protection was already safeguarding. That is true of every protected forest, which is exactly why protecting them, broadly and without waiting for a reason, is the whole point.
Through our partnership with Rainforest Trust, the businesses, venues and events measuring their footprint with One Tribe play a part in protecting places like Lomami. Not an abstract line in a report, but real forest, kept standing, with real consequences for the life inside it, including life we are only just beginning to understand.
This is what we mean when we talk about what sits behind the numbers on an impact page. A footprint measured and acted on is not just a figure to file away. Followed through, it becomes a contribution to somewhere real: a forest that stays a forest, and a safe haven for species we have met, and for the many we have not.
We are proud to play a small part in this. And we are glad the forest was protected long before anyone knew just how much was depending on it.
This is what sits behind the numbers: not an abstract offset, but a protected forest, and everything in it we have yet to discover.
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One Tribe is a Climate Action Platform enabling businesses and their customers to make a positive environmental impact.
Eric currently works as an independent consultant at the intersection of nature and climate, focused on catalysing market and non-market solutions to drive the just transition.
He previously was Head of Product at Earthshot Labs, supporting nature conservation and restoration projects across the global south secure project finance. Prior to Earthshot Labs, Eric led nature-based carbon project development for Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique and founded the Carbon Cooperative, a global alliance of leading nature conservation and restoration practitioners exploring carbon finance. After serving in the Peace Corps in Mozambique out of university, he spent much of his 20s working in community-based conservation and ecosystem restoration efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa interspersed with two startup ventures as co-founder and CEO of a mental health tech startup and COO of a sustainable coffee company. Eric has a dual Masters in Environmental Engineering and Environmental Policy from Stanford University where he was a NSF Graduate Research Fellow and a BS in Environmental Engineering from Tufts University.
Alan is a risk management thought-leader, superconnector, and FinTech pioneer. His mission is to enable an Earth Positive economy which includes nature in global accounting systems.
Alan is Founder of Generation Blue, a venture studio dedicated to planetary game changers powered by exponential technologies. Previously, Alan established Natural Capital Markets at Lykke AG, pioneering blockchain based forestry and carbon backed tokens. Alan has over two decades of risk management experience advising global financial institutions, and was a founding member of the RiskMetrics Group, a JPMorgan spin-off. Alan is an investor and advisor to regenerative impact ventures, including TreeBuddy.Earth, Regenativ, and Vlinder Climate.
Lori Whitecalf made history when she became the first woman to be elected Chief of Sweetgrass First Nation in 2011. She served three terms of office from 2011-2017.
Lori took a two-year hiatus from leadership to expand the family ranch and serve as the FSIN Senior Industry Liaison. She was re-elected on November 29. 2019 and again on November 30, 2021, as Chief of Sweetgrass. Chief Whitecalf practises a traditional lifestyle of hunting, fishing and gathering. She currently sits on the following boards: Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology, FSIN Lands and Resource Commission, Battle River Treaty 6 Health Centre and Battleford Agency Tribal Chiefs Executive Council, FSIN Women’s Commission.
Tina is the Chief Business Officer for MLTC Industrial Investments, the Economic Development arm of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council. She has a diverse background of experience. Having spent 15 years as a municipal Chief Operating Officer, 20 years involved in Saskatchewan’s Health Authority Board Keewatin Yatthe and 9 years with Northern Lights Board of Education.
She continues as a Board Member with Beaver River Community Futures supporting small business development in her home region. Tina brings a wealth of experience in a variety of fields and many connections to the Indigenous communities of Northern Saskatchewan. In addition Tina holds a BA Advanced from the U of S, a Certificate in Local Government Authority from the U of R and is certified as a Professional Economic Developer for Saskatchewan and a certified Technician Aboriginal Economic Developer (TAED).
Tootoosis’ career spans 40+ years in HRM, political leadership, and Indigenous economic development, as a dedicated bridge builder and advocate for Indigenous causes.
As a key member of the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA) team since 2021, he develops strategies for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission final report and Call to Action #92.
He is a graduate of the First Nations University of Canada and a certified Professional Aboriginal Economic Developer. Spearheading various community initiatives while serving as a Chair of the SIEDN while directing ILDII and WIBF. Founder of MGT Consulting Tootoosis is based in Saskatoon, Treaty Six Territory.
Cy Standing (Wakanya Najin in Dakota) has a long and distinguished career including serving overseas as an Electronics Technician in the Royal Canadian Air Force, former Chief of Wahpeton Dakota Nation, former Vice Chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indigenous Nations (FSIN), past Executive Director of Community Development Branch of the Department of Northern Saskatchewan as well as an Order in Council appointment to the Federal Parole Board.
Mr. Standing has served as a Director on many Profit and Non-Profit Corporate Boards, including serving as a Director for Affinity Credit Union with assets of over six billion dollars as well as IMI Brokerage and Wanuskewin and is currently a member of the One Tribe Indigenous Carbon Board.