Tree Aid is an international development

non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

which focuses on working with people in the Sahel region in Africa to tackle poverty and the effects of climate change by growing trees, improving people's incomes, and restoring and protecting land. It is a registered charity in the UK. Tree Aid has offices in

Ouagadougou Ouagadougou ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural, and economic centre of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,415,266 in 2019. The city's ...

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...

, in

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...

, in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

, in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, and in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It currently has programmes running in

and

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesGreat Green Wall Sahara and Sahel Initiative, which is an African Union-led movement of 21 countries with the ambition to grow 8,000 km of trees, spanning from

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

in the west to

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

in the east. In 2017, Tree Aid partnered with the search engine

Ecosia Ecosia is a search engine based in Berlin, Germany. Ecosia considers itself a social business, claiming to be CO2-negative, supports full financial transparency and protects the privacy of its users. Ecosia is B Lab-certified, meeting its ...

, on a project to support communities to restore land and plant trees along the

Daka river The Daka River is a river of Ghana. It flows through the northeastern part of the country and is one of the tributaries of the Lake Volta Lake Volta, the largest artificial reservoir in the world based on surface area, is contained behind the A ...

History and philosophy

Tree Aid was established in 1987 by Neville Fay and others in the forestry arboricultural industries, in response to the famine in Ethiopia. Its aim was to provide a long-term solution to the challenges of poverty and environmental decline once the emergency relief efforts ended. This was to be achieved by local teams working with people to manage and maintain trees for fruit, fodder, shade, and soil consolidation. In a speech on 19 July 2017 at the 30th Anniversary of Tree Aid, Neville Fay said of the founding of Tree Aid:

Inspired by the community-based African Green Belt and the Indian
Chipko The Chipko movement ( hi, chipko andolan, italic=yes, lit= reehugging movement) is a forest conservation movement in India. The movement originated in 1973 at the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand (then part of Uttar Pradesh) and went on to beco ...
Village movements, we saw the possibility of how arid landscapes could be stabilised to recreate a sustainable future for the heroic inhabitants of those environments.

Focus of work

Tree Aid's approach is to work with people local to the areas they are working in, supporting them with tools and training to grow trees, protect land, and start sustainable businesses. This approach aims to tackle poverty by increasing the project participants' nutrition and incomes, as well as protecting and restoring the natural environment. Tree Aid's work contributes to the following United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals: goal one which is about ending poverty, goal five on gender equality, goal eight about developing opportunities for decent work and economic growth, goal 13 about climate action and goal 15 about managing life on land sustainably. Tree Aid's approach is focused on four themes: * Natural Resource Management – Working with local people to use the trees on the land to improve soil and crops, rather than clearing them. Helping farmers to grow back trees that have been cut. Pushing for government policy that protects trees. * Forest Governance – Campaigning for forests to be managed by the people who depend on them. Working with communities and local governments so they can agree rules for using forests and their resources. * Food and Nutrition – Working with communities to grow and protect trees to keep land fertile and help crops to grow. If crops fail because of flooding or drought, trees survive, providing nutritious fruits, nuts and leaves, to eat or sell. This gives people stable supplies of food. * Enterprise Development – Working with local people so they have what they need to make and sell products from their trees. That includes everything from production skills and tools, to storage warehouses. Supporting the creation of village enterprise groups.

Fundraising Appeals

* On 17 January 2019, Zoë Wanamaker made an appeal on BBC Radio 4 on behalf of Tree Aid where she told the story of Petra, a Tree Aid project participant who learnt how to produce shea butter from the nuts of shea tree. Tree Aid reported that this appeal raised over £20,000. * Between 1 April and 30 June 2019, Tree Aid ran the "She Grows" campaign, the donations for which were matched by the UK government. The appeal aimed to help one thousand women in Mali to set up small businesses that process and sell shea butter and honey, and give them tools and training to save and replant their local forest. * Tree Aid launched their second UK Aid Matched appeal, called the "Future Forest" on 12 April 2021. The aim of this appeal was to help save the Metema frankincense forest in Ethiopia, by supporting communities with tools and training to sustainably use frankincense trees, protecting them for the future. This was expected to help tackle the effects of the

climate crisis ''Climate crisis'' is a term describing global warming and climate change, and their impacts. The term and the alternative term ''climate emergency'' have been used to describe the threat of global warming to humanity (and their planet), and to u ...

The Future Forest appeal was backed by public figures including

Joanna Lumley Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley (born 1 May 1946) is an English actress, presenter, former model, author, television producer, and activist. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (1992 ...

Chris Packham Christopher Gary Packham CBE (born 4 May 1961) is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the CBBC children's nature series '' The Really Wild Show'' from 1986 ...

, and

Zoë Wanamaker Zoë Wanamaker (born 13 May 1949) is a British-American actress who has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. A nine-time Olivier Award nominee, she won for '' Once in a Lifetime'' (1979) and ''Electra' ...

Completed Projects

Burkina Faso

Forest Governance Phase 1 – Started 2007 Aim To reduce poverty and hunger for people across Burkina Faso by supporting communities to set up forest management plans and learn how to restore and protect their environment. Reported Outcomes * Restored and protected over 22,800 hectares of land * Helped people to gain access to trees and set up forest management plans to protect the forests for the future * Encouraged women to in engage forest management and increased female participation from 24% to 71% Partners * UK Department for International Development's Civil Society Challenge Fund * Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency * UNCDF * SNV * GAGF * MEEVCC Restoring Land with Dryland Development Aim * To support rural farmers to transition from subsistence farming to sustainable rural development * To influence policy and push for change with local authorities to support farmers with access to land as well as financial support * To support women to develop businesses from tree products to generate an income for themselves and their families Reported Outcomes * Supported the development of 47 local land management committees in six sub-catchments setting out rules for sustainable and inclusive land and forest management * 45,841 farmers were trained in water, soil, and forest management methods which they used to restore 6,886 hectares of land * Women in the project areas also developed sustainable businesses Partners * Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the Netherlands *

World Vision Australia World Vision Australia (WVA) is an ecumenical Christian non-governmental organisation based in Melbourne, Australia. It is a part of the ''World Vision International Partnership'' led by World Vision International. WVA is Australia's largest o ...

(WVA) *

World Agroforestry Centre World Agroforestry (a brand name used by the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, ICRAF) is an international institute headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and founded in 1978 as "International Council for Research in Agroforestry". T ...

(ICRAF) * SNV

Ethiopia

Protecting the Wof Washa Forest Aims * To regenerate degraded trees and prevent illegal tree cutting in the area by supporting community forest management training * To increase incomes and address poverty in the local communities by supporting them to form enterprise groups to process and sell

non-timber forest product Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are useful foods, substances, materials and/or commodities obtained from forests other than timber. Harvest ranges from wild collection to farming. They typically include game animals, fur-bearers, nuts, see ...

s Reported Outcomes * 6,261 hectares of forest under sustainable management * 1,622 people increased their incomes * 2,501 people joined forest management cooperatives Partners * Royal Botanical Gardens Kew *

UK government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

* The Darwin Initiative * SUNARMA

Mali

Strengthening Forest Management - Concluded in 2020 Aims * To protect and restore Ségou's forests, while tackling poverty in the region * To work with local authorities to agree rules for using forests that benefit local people * To train communities to protect and restore their local forests * To support people with tools and training to form and develop enterprise groups * To increase household incomes by providing support to process and market tree products like shea butter Reported Outcomes * 1,500 farmers trained in land and forest management techniques, like tree planting and regeneration and soil and water conservation * In Sutebwo forest, tree cover has doubled since farmers have started putting tree regeneration techniques into practice * When the project came to an end 75% of the people Tree Aid worked with reported they feel they now have fair and equal access to their local forests * 672,000 trees grown * 204 households no longer live in poverty * 11,619 hectares of forest protected and restored Partners * The Darwin Initiative * Sahel Eco

References

{{Reflist

External links

Tree Aid Website

Royal Forestry Society

Tree Aid on Twitter

Tree Seed blog
Trees Environmental organisations based in England Charities based in Bristol Environmental organizations established in 1987 1987 establishments in England