Partnership Spotlight: Growing trees, income and food with Tree Aid
Since 2023, we have partnered with Tree Aid, an environmental charity working across the drylands of Africa, tackling poverty and the effects of the climate crisis through the power of growing trees.
Their community-led projects help to transform lives, by empowering people to grow sustainable incomes from tree products, while tackling the effects of the climate crisis for those living along its frontlines.
Tree Aid’s work is part of the Great Green Wall initiative, an ambitious, Africa-led regreening movement, aimed at growing 8,000 km of trees across the width of Africa. This incredible project is transforming land, communities and lives for millions of people living in the climate-sensitive regions of Africa’s drylands.
But Tree Aid doesn’t just plant trees and walk away. Since 1987, they have worked with local communities to grow over 30 million trees and support over 1,251,781 people across African drylands. By 2027, Tree Aid will have worked with over 2.4 million people, providing vital support and growing 12 million more trees where they are needed most.
Let’s take a closer look at our partnership with this brilliant charity.
Carbon Underwriting and Tree Aid’s Partnership: Impact
Through our partnership, we have committed to growing the equivalent of one tree per every 10 policies sold. So far, this amounts to the equivalent of 3,700 trees! Tree Aid ensures those trees thrive so they can provide shelter, food, income and resilience against an ever-changing climate.
We’re proud to partner with Tree Aid and to support their holistic approach. From their sustainable agroforestry initiatives to their enterprise development work with women, local people are always at the forefront of Tree Aid’s work. Tree Aid is changing lives, one tree at a time and we’re proud to support their vital mission.
Trees Mean Life – Hear from Habi Diarra, a She Grows Participant
In the countries where Tree Aid works, women are more likely to depend on natural resources for their survival. That’s why women and girls are disproportionately affected by the impacts of the climate crisis.
Habi Diarra is a Tree Aid project participant and farmer, who lives in Southwestern Mali. Because of climate change, erratic weather, severe droughts and flooding have resulted in poor soil quality, making it difficult for her grow food to eat and sell.
That’s why Habi worked together with Tree Aid on their She Grows project. This incredible programme ran from 2020-2023 and supported over 1,000 women in Mali to grow trees, food and an income. Through the project, communities worked in partnership with Tree Aid to learn skills and take part in training sessions around planting, beekeeping, land rights, advocacy, communication, public speaking, gender, and shea butter production techniques.
Supported with the right tools and training, Habi has been empowered to grow her income through selling tree products like shea butter, which in turn helps to restore her environment and tackle the devastating effects of a changing climate. Not only is she now able to provide for her family, Habi is protecting her community’s natural environment for future generations.
“For us women, trees are essential,” Habi says, “we eat the leaves and the fruit. We sell them when production is good. I often use the leaves and the roots to care for my children.”
Being part of a cooperative also means Habi can sell her products for a better price, access loans, and enjoy support from her community. Watching her income grow, Habi emphasises the value of trees in her community: “understanding [the importance of trees] among community members, as well as within families, contributes to the prosperity of villages and households”.
By supporting Tree Aid, Carbon Underwriting stands with women like Habi, who are empowering themselves and their communities to grow trees, restore land, fight poverty and develop resilience to the ever-changing climate crisis.
Thank You from Tree Aid
“As a valued business partner, we’re so grateful for Carbon Underwriting’s on-going generosity. We simply couldn’t do our vital work, helping communities across the drylands of Africa, if it wasn’t for dedicated partners like you. Thank you to all the Carbon Underwriting team – here’s to many more years of tree growing together!”
If you would like to learn more about the work which Tree Aid is doing, head to their website here: www.treeaid.org.
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