The quarterly newsletter of Trees for the Future
Summer 2007 Vol. XV, No. 2
Philippines Update: Hard Work and Innovation Bring Results
In February, Gabriel “Gabby” Mondragon joined us as our permanent representative for the Southeast Asia Region. This is something we had been thinking about for a long time and now Gabby and his friends are bringing some new ideas to your program:
most of the province. They are making some exciting advances. A centuy ago, most of these mountains were covered with dense forests. Families lived well with the forests providing for nearly all of their needs. Now, due to extensive logging and deforestation, they try to hold on to their livelihoods by practicing "kaingin" (slash-andA Cooperative that Works The Province of Zambales has 22 towns. Each of burn) farming. It was in Zambales where I first saw these has a chapter of a farmers' cooperative called entire mountain sides burning through the night (and "TRD" (Total Rural Development) – making for a total saw the devastating consequences in the rainy season membership of over 4,000 families doing what they that followed). can to sustainably farm the harsh uplands that make up With Gabby's help, we have been providing tree seeds and training support to many of these communities. Most farmers are convinced that planting trees is the only way to save their homes and their way of life. Some very impressive ideas have been demonstrated: one example is Danny Zembro's hillside planting of a combination of Leucaena trees with bananas, pineapple and papaya. The diversity eliminates many pest problems while the deep-rooted trees bring nutrients back to the topsoil. Danny gets top prices for his high quality produce. Because of the program’s success, the Town Council of Botolan is providing TREES a two acre facility along the national highway (the main road of Zambales) with a modern office. Over several years, TREES Local farmers plant Leucaena seedlings and wildlings of the Australian pine and the local groups have been working together to build a demon(Casuarina equisetifolia) in the river stration of the continued page 2 Page 1 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 2
Johnny Ipil-Seed News is a quarterly newsletter of TREES FOR THE FUTURE, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people of the world’s poorest communities to begin environmentally beneficial, selfhelp projects. This newsletter is printed by wind energy on recycled paper with soy-based ink and is sent to all supporting members to inform them of recent events, plans, financial matters and how their support is helping people. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dr. John R. Moore, Dr. Peter Falk, Mr. Oscar Gruspe, Mr. Dave Deppner, Mr. Bedru Sultan, Ms. Marilou Herman FOUNDERS Dave and Grace Deppner STAFF John Leary Joell Gallardo Corrie Mauldin Gorav Seth Brandy Lellou
FIELD TECHNICIANS
Gabby Mondragon, N. Philippines
Dr. Ron Soriano, S. Philippines Jorge Betancourt, Honduras Guillermo Valle, Honduras Omar Ndao, Senegal Eugene Edwards, Belize Subramanian Periyasamy, India Louis Nkembi, Cameroon Dr. Yigezu Shimeles, Ethiopia Matt Gilbride, Panama
To receive this newsletter or for more information, contact: TREES FOR THE FUTURE The Loret Miller Ruppe Center for Sustainable Development P.O. Box 7027 Silver Spring, MD 20907 Toll Free: 1-800-643-0001 Ph: 301-565-0630 info@treesftf.org WWW.PLANT-TREES.ORG
Hard Work and Innovation (cont’d from page 1)
Forest Garden concept at the site. This in the town of Botolan, Zambales. Over center - headquarters for the coopera- 5,600 families from the uplands, mostly tive - will now also be the headquarters aborigines who call themselves for the Southeast Asia program of "Pinatubos", were evacuated to refugee TREES. The rent for the facility is nom- centers. inal, and we get two part-time farm When they finally returned to their workers to support the staff. homes in 1995, they found the land covAs TREES program has gained ered with thick, acidic, white ash - makmomentum, the cooperative has spread ing farming nearly impossible. We to five new towns in the Subic Bay Autonomous Zone, and also to San Marcelino where another 200 families want to begin reforesting the area. Our technicians are also being asked to help other groups south of Manila. In Botolan itself, there is a seed production orchard of about 250 Leucaena trees (type K-67), which has At the Barangay meeting, farmers ask Dave Deppner about forage plants for dairy goats. proven excellent for bringing life back to uplands covered with lahar (volcanic have been assisting these families to ash). There is another seed orchard on develop livelihood projects, mostly our farm in Pozorrubio, Pangasinan, involving tree planting, ever since. where 160 trees are now producing the The Bugao River which borders their K-676 type seeds. In the rainy season land was filled with lahar. The dry to begin in August, we intend to plant riverbed rose as much as 32 feet at its several other multi-purpose tree species mouth from the ash deposition. When I as a continuous seed source. Gabby has first worked there as a Peace Corps also presented his program to the Volunteer, the river was about 70 meters Philippine Airlines' PAL Foundation in wide and about 3 meters deep in some the hope of gaining their participation. places, and I used to swim it to get to We have asked them to plant one tree (at the upland villages. Now it's over three a cost of 2 Pesos or about ten cents) for kilometers wide and about a half inch every passenger. With their help, and deep with plenty of quicksand. A lot of that of other Philippine businesses, the private lands, buried under the ash, are Philippines could be turned green again. now useless to the owners. With few trees on the mountains, the winds sweep down on the river, picking Trees Planted in the Riverbed In late 1991, Mt. Pinatubo erupted, up the white dust and blowing it into the depositing over two billion tons of lahar town. This poses a serious health hazard Page 2 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 2
, and in times of strong winds (which blow up without warning) Botolan town gets a total "white-out" when all traffic stops and it's dangerous even to walk outside. Gabby and local farmers started thinking about what would happen if they planted trees in the river. They started exploring and experimenting. One of the first things they noted is that "Agoho" trees (Australian Pine) had already started making a comeback. Although it is disliked in many parts of the world due to its aggressive nature, this is a very valuable tree to Filipinos. In this case, it was also the beginning of a series of windbreaks. Additionally, as they dug down 15 to 20 inches in the lahar, the people were surprised to learn that a great amount of water was running underneath, on its way to the sea. This "useless" river bed is actually a massive irrigated field! They now plan to raise livestock on the higher parts of the riverbed, especially milking goats which will be kept in pens. Tree leaves and Napier grass make a good ration and the cooperative is already pasteurizing and bottling the goat milk, which has a ready market in the nearby towns. The participating farmers started gathering agoho wildlings and planting them on the same "lazy W" formation that the naturally regeneration was already forming. Behind the windbreak, other species, including Leucaena trees and forage grasses, are being planted - at the driest time of the year (due to the water running underneath)! After two months, the trees are growing well with only minimum mortality. The former landowners, unable to find their buried properties, are each working a part of this new project. The cooperative members are very hopeful of turning these wastelands into productive fields and windbreaks which can soon end the deadly "whiteouts" that threaten Botolan town.
"Terai" Cahilig, Cuny, and Edith. We have also provided agro-forestry certification to the municipal nursery manager in San Jose, the capital of Antique, who is helping develop municipal nurseries throughout the province. Much of the land was first degraded by logging, often illegal. There was no natural regeneration because the cleared lands were soon turned into grazing areas for goats and cattle, brought across from Mindoro by the refugees. If these uplands are to be saved, the first step will be to convince local farmers to adopt an environmentally sustainable forage system. This will include a combination of trees and highly productive grasses, such as dwarf Napier grass, which is being introduced now. The mayor of San Jose believes this is the only possible solution for saving these uplands and is helping by constructing a municipal goat farm in his town, which will show the benefits of confined rearing, and will have seeds and root cuttings available for distribution to livestock raisers in the area. He is also planting many fast-growing, multi-purpose trees along local roadsides to show more people the benefits of planting trees. From training sites such as these, which are being started in many areas of the Philippines, TREES and our local partners believe this program will show local farmers how they can save their lands, while sustainably increasing crop production. -Dave Deppner
To the South Thanks to the continuing hard work of our board member Marilou Herman and her Marilou Cares Foundation, we continue to expand our program in Antique Province on the Island of Panay. This is, by far, the poorest part of the Philippines, with many people migrating there to flee the endless warfare on Regional coordinator Gabriel Mondragon with farm manager Dick the nearby Island of Mindanao. Cruz at nursery with Acacia mangium trees. Our local technicians there are Theresa Page 3 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 2
Ethiopia Update: Two Million Trees!
Ethiopia has a 3,000 year-old tradition of people working together to solve mutual problems. We chose to start our tree planting program in the Gurage Zone, where we have previously worked with some very successful results and where, because of this, we have strong support. But a lot still remains to be done and so, on our return to the area in April, we told our local partner, Greener Ethiopia, that we had the resources and ability to help them plant about 1,600,000 trees this
results have been spectacular. Once the steep mountainsides were protected from grazing animals and fire through a cooperative program, natural regeneration has occurred. For every tree planted in the program, another four or five trees, mostly indigenous conifers, have returned. This implies that our statements to people concerned about global warming are too conservative. We say that for every one tree we plant, approximately 50 lbs. of carbon dioxide is sequestered. But now, instead of
Gullies are being protected with tree and grass combinations. In less than four years, these lands can be restored to sustainable productivity.
season. Their answer was typical: "why not just plant two million?" And so, with that, we started looking at the problems and the possibilities.
Bringing Back Trees Naturally The Gurage Zone runs from about 130 to 170 km. southwest of Addis Ababa. Somewhat triangular in shape, it is divided by a range of mountains that turn it into two triangular areas. There is a rough road that cuts through the mountains from Butajira on the east to Wolkete on the west, with busses, but nobody takes the bus there unless they have to. On the eastern side of the region things are better. The lands are farmed so that the soils are carefully maintained, as they have been for many centuries. Most of the environmental concerns arise in the mountainous areas. There, pioneer species of trees were planted, starting about five years ago, and the
one tree, we have five or six doing the job! Typically, we expect the trees in our projects to live for 30 years or more. However, we what we see in these mountains shows that if local people are allowed to manage the land correctly, there is no reason to expect the tree cover will not be there for centuries to come. The conclusion is that curbing global climate change begins by allowing the people of these degraded lands to have a say in the management of the lands that are their home. The Agriculture Office in the Gurage zone has planted 800,000 trees, many of them jointly with Greener Ethiopia. In addition, Dr. Shimeles, our program leader, is planting about 120,000 more on lands in the nearby mountainous area. This location is close to the Rift Valley, where very serious erosion is of great concern because of the large herds of grazing cattle. We hope to expand the program into the Valley by
Page 4 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 2
Ethiopia Update: Two Million Trees!
next year. Across the mountains to the west, the situation is much more serious. This area, slightly sloping, has extremely fragile volcanic soil that, unprotected, rapidly washes away. In one rainstorm, a gully can be cut in which you could hide a large bus. This area of land, about 340 square kilometers, supports nearly two million families. As human populations have grown, so did livestock numbers. The carrying capacity of the land was exceeded at least ten years back and the situation has snowballed ever since. Now gullies crisscross the land, pushing forage production into further decline as the size of the herds continue to expand. That is why two of our local technicians in the program are trained livestock experts. Both are committed to developing intense, "cut-and-carry" forage systems - which begin by planting forage trees and grasses in the gullies to fill them with soil and bring them back to productive life.
effort has begun in the town of Che'Ha, where a dark brown stream wanders across the land. Thousands of cattle are driven to it daily to drink and cool themselves in the water, while downstream, women are washing their clothes. Is there an answer to solve this problem? Yes, along the stream is a spring with clean, sweet, water. However, to get to it, you have to crawl down into a steep ravine and carry containers back up and it can be dangerous. We are constructing a cement catchment there and will soon add a pump driven by a solar panel. This will take the water to an overhead tank, next to a concrete building that will be a laundry and bathhouse, serving some 250 families. From the tank, the pipes carry water to a nearby school. Children can then bring containers in the morning which will be filled for them to carry home in the afternoon. The women’s program is also providing donkeys. TREES currently owns about 50 donkeys which are being fed nutritious grasses before being distributed in different villages. At dawn the day before Easter, Donkey City one woman walked into the compound. She had been What is especially striking about rural Ethiopia is walking all night, but she made it. She said she wantthe extreme burden carried by women. It's common to ed her group to be the first to register for a donkey. see a woman staggering down the road to the market We talked about it for a while and she said, yes, one with half of a large tree on her back, hoping to sell it donkey can carry about as much as three women, but for perhaps two dollars. she pointed out that a donkey pulling a cart can do the With this, the number of trees is rapidly declining, work of ten, probably 12 women. and women are walking farther than ever with these One donkey costs the program about $60 and the cart loads. Addressing only costs $80, so this issue is a priwe spent the mary priority of our remainder of the reforestation proday designing the gram. Certainly, cart. Now our 50 families there are donkeys, with carts, looking to TREES can help another and Greener 500 or more famiEthiopia to lead the lies. way. What do donkey We have started a carts have to do with tree planting? “women in develFirst of all, it gets opment” program entire families that will, in this involved. The first season, bring repayment for this direct relief to women in some A donkey pulling a cart can do as much work as 10-12 women. Our don- investment isn't money - it's trees 700 families. One keys are working to help more families. Page 5 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 2
planted! The women in the program are now more mobile and can plant trees on the more distant, more degraded lands where they are most needed. And the kinds of trees they are planting can be harvested repeatedly, year after year, stabilizing the land, saving the precious water, and at the same time starting a natural regeneration of tree species native to the area. We see this as a good investment in the community and in the environment.
agricultural production increases, it could serve as an agri-business center, helping farmers buy needed supplies while also processing their products to assure them more favorable prices. TREES and Greener Ethiopia continue to seek sponsors so this facility can reach its true potential. It's the hope of both Greener Ethiopia and TREES that we can rebuild and open that center. The govern-
The Bio-Village Near the town of Wolkete, about eight years ago, a foundation in Europe provided a grant to construct and operate a training center, which they called the "Bio-Village.� The buildings were designed much like local houses, called "Tikuls,� except much larger. The center still stands there today, slowly decaying. The funders saw their project being systematically ripped off and simply closed their books on it. The hundreds of thousands of rural families there, who saw this center as the only possible way to learn about better agricultural The Bio-village compound sits empty while local farmers desperately need systems, have been bitterly disapappropriate technology to lift them out of poverty. pointed. Harmony Farms, a private business partnering with TREES, did their best to save the ment has already given the site to Greener Ethiopia. Center. They donated goats and cattle for the liveWith that, Greener Ethiopia is seeking help from the stock training, and even trucked water there because many foundations and non-profit organizations in the well that was planned was never drilled. Addis Ababa. If they can get that help, your program Having this training center is one key piece of the will grow far beyond the Gurage, planting millions development plan that is missing. For your program, more trees in the years ahead. We wish them great that missing piece could be supporting the planting of success. hundreds of thousands of trees each year, while pro-Dave Deppner viding the community sustainable opportunities to improve their livelihoods. Expanding our program in succeeding years depends on having training centers that can serve not only the people of the Gurage, but also Oromia and other nearby communities where deforestation takes a great toll on the land each year. The failure to open this center has been a serious blow to local families, not only in the Gurage, but far beyond the area. This could be a source of continuing education in appropriate technology, allowing them to manage their lands in a more sustainable manner. And, as Page 6 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No.2
Cameroon Update: Introducing the Highlands Project
Over the last two decades, TREES has helped support several projects in Cameroon, an incredibly ecologically and culturally varied country in West Africa . Just six months ago, we were fortunate enough to solidify a growing relationship with Louis Nkembi, an ecologist and the founder of the environmental non-profit, ERuDeF, the Environmental Rural Development Foundation, based in the Southwest province. As our Cameroon Field Representative, Louis has toured the three western provinces of Cameroon, conducting workshops and offering A training workshop for several women’s groups in the Southwest province conducted by Trees for the Future in conjunction with the Rural Development Centre. on-site training for farmer vegetation in these areas to solve both the environgroups interested in starting or continuing agromental and economic problems that plague these forestry and reforestation projects. To date, we have small-scale farmers. Planting woodlots to provide focused our efforts in the Southwest province, workfuelwood and timber eases pressure on the existing ing with over 15 groups who have already received natural resources, and incorporating agroforestry techseeds and planted their nurseries. These farmers niques such as alley cropping, contour planting and anticipate transplanting up to 500,000 seedlings for live fencing will help to stop soil erosion and increase the upcoming rainy season that will begin in August. fertility on hillsides. The trees will provide farmers With your help, we hope to expand this project into with food, fodder, medicine and other necessities they a region-wide program by next year, enabling us to help address the needs of rural farmers throughout the need to improve their subsistence and cash income. Nearly 95% of the 3 million people who live in the western highlands of Cameroon which include the NW, W and SW provinces of Cameroon are farmers. Southwest, West and Northwest provinces. Much of Louis estimates thath the highland program will be the mountain ecosystem throughout these provinces able to plant over 800,000 trees in this area at a cost has been destroyed by logging and slash-and-burn farming techniques which are used because of limited of only six cents per tree, with a total budget of $53,000. The immediate and long-term benefits of resources. This has led to the loss of soil fertility and the program include: watershed destruction, threatened plant and animal - Increased fuel-wood production and development biodiversity, and degraded livelihoods and property. of sustainable energy alternatives such as solar stoves One of the most serious impacts on the people and and ovens landscape has been landslides. Landslides have caused hundreds of deaths along with the loss of pro- - Increased ground and surface water volume and household water supply ductive forest, cropland and property over the last 50 Begin to improve 70% of the degraded landscape in years. The Magha and Fossimondi landslides in 2003 the severely eroded highlands within three years cost 25 lives and destoyed property valued at over - Increased rural household cash income of at least two million dollars. The Limbe landslide of 2001 20% in each of the selected communities by the fifth destroyed 108 houses and left over 1000 homeless. year of implementation Agroforestry and reforestation projects in the high-Corrie Mauldin lands are vital to reestablishing Page 7 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No.2
Honduras Update: Our New Regional Office
Through the kindness of Guillermo Valle and his Corps volunteers’ communities, several communities foundation, FUNDARBOL, we have been able to in Santa Barbara and San Marcos de Colon, on the establish a regional office in Tegucigalpa, the Capitol border with Nicaragua. of Honduras. With that, Jorge Betancourt has joined The project ni Santa Barbara is sponsored by the us as our Central America regional program coordina- Episcopal Diocese of Honduras and supported by tor. their church in Washington DC. This program is in The region consists of Honduras, Nicaragua, El the mountainous coffee-producing area. The local Salvador, Belize and Guatemala. It is expected that leader is Roy Lara, who has many years' experience additional projects will soon begin in the Yucatan area developing successful agro-forestry projects. of Mexico as well. On the most recent trip, staff technician Dave Jorge has more than Deppner met with the leadtwenty years of experience ers of these group projects as Associate Director for and saw the beginning of Natural Resources, Peace two new projects that we Corps Honduras, and later are asked to assist. The as consultant for United first is in the town of Nations programs through Siguatpeche where the SERTA, the environmental town council has decided and natural resources to start a one million tree office of Honduras. He is project to protect their being assisted by a thirdupland water sources. The year Peace Corps volunleader of this project is teer, Joshua Bogart, who Oscar Ochoa who, through works from his assigned his SETRO organization, is village in northeast a major supplier of trees Honduras. seeds for our projects In this first busy season worldwide and who steadiof our country program, ly provides TREES with most of their work has important technology that been to develop alliances we can offer to our comwithin Honduras. As the munity leaders throughout seasonal rains begin in the developing world. June and July, Jorge will In the San Pedro Sula Oscar Ochoa, owner of Semillas Tropical, shows off a five- area, we are working with have more time to visit year old African Mahogany Tree, which grows well in sites in these other counCampisa, an organization Honduras. He has provided technological support to the tries as well where groups technicians in our program and now is helping the town of formed by Roberto have made requests for Flores-Gomez and his Siguatepeche to begin a million tree project. technical assistance in family. Campisa has community agroforestry and reforestation projects. established an environmental training center there and Our goal for 2007 has been to assist in the planting a school for urban youth. The school takes young people off the street, offers of up to 1,400,000 trees. In mid-May, several groups them decent living conditions and a purpose in life. had planted over 3 million seeds, which has resulted The training they receive emphasizes saving and in 2, 400,000 tree seedlings ready to plant this June. restoring the environment. In the months ahead, we Based on past experience, over 2 million of those hope to assist Campisa to develop a large forest-garshould survive the first critical, rainy season. den at this school, as a demonstration of how people The groups involved in the planting include: FUNDARBOL, with eight community nurseries; 15 Peace can restore degraded lands to sustained productivity. Page 8 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 2
An additional program, with the Office of the First Lady of Honduras, is intended to address the increasingly serious problem of malnutrition, especially among young children in rural areas. More than 24% of primary school students are unable to meet minimum grade standards for lack of protein in the diet. Much of this is due to a lack of firewood: because beans, the main protein source, require a lot of cooking, many children are eating roots such as cassava instead. These roots provide little protein. We are distributing seeds of vegetables and trees, especially the Moringa tree One of eight FUNDARBOL community nurseries located throughout south(known as the "one-a-day tree" because ern Honduras. This year they have planted more than 750,000 seedlings to the leaves are an excellent, flavorful distribute as the seasonal rains arrive. source of protein and vitamins). By niques are being developed in southern Honduras. next year, we hope to have forest gardens in at least Most of all, people in Honduras are now starting to 3,000 schools. recognize that as the critical water shortage continues While Honduras is often considered as the most to worsen, the threat can be largely addressed by environmentally degraded part of Central America, a bringing tree cover and forests back to the barren good deal of appropriate technology for land restorauplands. Through all these efforts, Honduras sees a tion and sustainable land use is being developed future with hope. TREES is pleased to have had a big there, integrating many useful ideas from local compart in that. munities. Our the dispersal of our Agrforestry -Dave Deppner Training Manual, now being translated into Spanish, should help with this technology transfer. New agroforestry technology such as Jatropha tree biofuel tech-
Guillermo Valle of FUNDARBOL and TREES regional representative Jorge Betancourt setting up our regional office in Tegucigalpa.
Grace Deppner distributes seeds of Moringa trees to Lindsey, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Santa Elena, Honduras to bolster a nutrition program.
Page 9 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No.2
Sustainable Living: The Polyface Farm Tour
To our readers: There is an often unnoticed but very close relationship between livestock management systems and environmental degradation. This article describes ann innovative system being developed in the United States. In succeeding issues, we hope to present other ideas about how livestock raisers around the world are addressing this issue. Your comments are sincerely sought.
adding another dose of high- nitrate fertilizer to the ground. Salatin’s broilers – his most profitable operation – also help to fertilize the pastures. The 4,000 birds are kept in small floorless chicken coops that are moved across the fields every few days. In the winter, Salatin is no less innovative. His cows and pigs stay inside a multi-use barn that was built using local materials at less than $1 per square foot. The cow manure is allowed to build up on the floor, and is continuously covered with layers of hay, grass, woodchips and whole seed corn. This layering goes on all winter, and by spring, the cows are standing several feet high on a warm, dry mixture of manure and organic matter. (Salatin has the feeding troughs fixed to a pulley system to raise them as the floor increases in height). After sending the cows out to pasture in the spring, Salatin brings in his “Pigaerators,” who, while hunting through the manure for the fermented corn kernels, turn and aerate the manure mixture. The composted manure from this process is the only fertilizer he needs for his gardens and fields. As if creating and managing these amazing grassbased livestock systems weren’t enough, Salatin gives frequent tours of his farm and travels nationally to speak about his sustainable farming practices. He has also written several books about his family farm, farming practices and his beliefs about the current food system and the politics behind it. To learn more please go to: http://polyfacefarms.com -Corrie Mauldin
On a recent warm spring day in May, Gorav, my husbad, Kamweti and I experienced a day at Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia. I had first heard about this grass-based livestock farm and its innovator, Joel Salatin, from reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, an amazing account of one man’s search into America’s relationship with food. Pollan devotes over 60 pages of his book to Salatin, describing the man behind one of the most environmentally and economically beneficial livestock systems on the East Coast, if not the nation. While touring Salatin’s farm (Swoope, VA) along with a group of students and researchers from Virginia Tech, it was clear that we were witnessing something special. Salatin’s land encompasses over 550 acres, of which nearly 400 remain forested. On the remainder, where he raises beef, pork, poultry (broilers, eggs, turkeys) and rabbits on less than 200 acres, is now covered in native Shenandoah Valley grasses which have thrived due to his well-designed land management practices. His intricate livestock management system supports the critical elements of plant and animal diversity and their relationships within nature. Every three days, Salatin rotates his 100 or so cows – which are not vaccinated nor receive any antibiotics – in one acre plots surrounded by a single wire electric fence. A large canvas canopy on wheels provides movable shade for the cows, which allows Salatin to easily control the distribution of organic manure in his fields. A few days after the cows are relocated, Salatin’s “pasture sanitation program,” which consists of 10,000 laying hens (in mobile coop houses), is moved onto the plot previously occupied by the cows. These hens roam freely in the freshly Joel Salatin demonstrates his “pasture sanitation program” in action, thanks to grazed grass, where they control fly his hardworking flock of avian workers. larvae and other pests while Page 10 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No.2
Goodbye and Best Wishes to John Leary
John Leary joined TREES literally the morning after he returned from serving with Peace Corps Senegal, where he had worked on agroforestry extension for three years. In the nearly four years he has been at Trees for the Future, he has leveraged his regional knowledge to greatly expand our presence in West Africa and turned our Senegal program into a model for long-term sustainability, as evidenced by our new regional training center which exists because of his unwavering support. For many years John has tirelessly worked as an agroforestry technician and operations manager, but now he has decided that it is time to move on to new challenges and opportunities. He will still be connected with our work in Mali and Senegal, and will be a valuable resource for our community. All of us at TREES will miss his energy, and we wish him the best of luck. John examining plants at a nursery on a recent trip to Senegal, where he had served as a Peace Corps volunteer for three years.
Congratulations to our Spring Agroforestry Training Graduates!
Our long-distance agroforestry training program is providing valuable knowledge to hundreds of community leaders every year. We would like to thank all who have participated, and would like to give recognition to our recent graduates. To sign up for this program, please call, email or write to us.
Jackson Wafula, Kitale, Kenya Robert Muloki, Mukono, Uganda Dimitri Harmegnies, Belgium Sanjay Uphaday, India Aileen Renoblas, Digos City, Philippines Jabes Khwabi, Zambia Forest College, Zambia Amos Owoko Ochola, Uranga, Kenya Edwin Nkwera, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania Ammon Sink, Millersville, MD, USA Fai Cassian Ndi, Trees for Development, Bamenda, Cameroon Polivios D. Valendis, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Jabes Khwabi, Zambia K. Velmurugan, Thalaivasal, India Munashe D. Shoko, Africa University, Mutare, Zimbabwe Garcia V Matondo, The Salvation Army, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo Paulino M Damiano, Save Mt. Kenya Forest From Extinction Group, Nairobi, Kenya, Page 11 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 2
Senegal: New Centre de la Promotion de Agroforestrie
On a hot, dusty day in April, Omar Ndao, Trees for the Future’s Field Representative in Senegal, stood in front of a crowd of people on the opening day for our agroforestry training center in Kaffrine, Senegal. Under a tent that stood next to the demonstration site, Omar put his cell phone on speaker and held it high in the air. Four thousand miles away, gathered around a phone at our headquarters in Maryland, TREES technicians addressed the excited crowd with an opening day speech. We spoke of reclaiming degraded lands throughout the world and we told them that they are not alone….that at that very moment we were also involved with countless other communities throughout the world trying to accomplish the same thing: to reforest degraded lands and profit from living sustainably through agroforestry-based businesses. Omar, who has been blessed with superb oratory skills, excited the crowd by speaking about specific families who are already making money through agroforestry practices in our program, and by talking about future plans to include biofuels as an additional income-generating activity in the region. Omar’s message to his agemates (translated from Wolof): “We must build our lives here, and we can do it with agroforestry. God gave us life and he gave us a lot of land,
and we must use what He gave us.” Six hours away on the coast of Senegal, hundreds of young unnamed African men, all of whom are Omar’s age, prepare to board boats that will take them on a dangerous journey north toward Spain where they hope to survive the swim to the shore and silent integration into Europe’s job market. For these young men, the gamble seems worthwhile, but so much can be lost. Just the month before the TREES center opened, there was a funeral in Kaffrine for a man who drowned in the waters off the coast of Spain. Our training center provides alternatives to this desperate situation by spreading ideas and technologies and hope of a better life on native soil. The center is five kilometers south of the city of Kaffrine at a major crossroads, which is ideal because of the heavy traffic that passes in front of the center every day. Omar’s horse, named Chially, who for five years has traveled the dirt paths connecting the 25 villages Omar is working with, can rest. Now it is much easier for people in the Department of Kaffrine to come to Omar, rather than Omar having to go and visit everyone in the Department of Kaffrine! -John Leary
Page 12 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 2
Business Partners
With rising global awareness about climate change, more and more businesses have teamed up with us in treeplanting partnerships. These partnerships are allowing us to plant more trees than ever before, while providing carbon offsets to these innovative, forward thinking, socially responsible businesses. We would like to take the time to thank our old and new business partners by listing them here. Please support these businesses! Learn more about them at: www.plant-trees.org/partnerships Plant-a-Tree Partnerships These businesses support our tree planting projects based on their sales Alexander Book Co. Bebecito Organic Beeceuticals Betterworld Telecom Broad Street Books of Ghent Cafe Imports Community Printers, Inc. Developmentseed.org Ecoist 41 Pounds Free Recycling.com Green Dimes Hazelnut Kids IEcoffeeradio.com In Ticketing Inn Serendipity
Jade Yoga Junk to Jewels Karmapalooza Liveitgreen.com ModernCowgirl.com Nosweatshop.com Nutrisoda - Fresh Air Tour OBoZ Footwear Ondah 1% For The Planet Papoose Creek Lodge Permaworld Pinehurst Inn ProgressiveKid Real Goods The Recycled Products Cooperative
Rhythym Inlet Sesa Tea Skytone Printing and Graphics Solar Publishing Support with 1040.com Thetreegrove.com The Yoga Loft ThisNext.com The Green Kangaroo Verde Energy Wildland Adventures YogAdventures ZAP Cars
Global Cooling Businesses These businesses plant trees to offset all of their carbon dioxide emissions Alternative Treatment International, Inc. Bo Tree Bodymind Center Cafe Imports Mojo Coffee Signature Coffee Simmons Natural Bodycare Thanksgiving Coffee Working Assets
Here are some of our new partners which some of our members may not be familiar with ThisNext.comOndah.com41 poundsLiveitgreen.com OBoZ footwearPage 13 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No.2
A Note About Carbon Offsets
By May of this year, your organization had planted some 53 million trees worldwide since TREES was first incorporated back in 1988. Thanks for all the help and guidance you've provided. Concern about global climate change has gone from a whisper to a deafening roar over the past few years. What was once so easily denied has now become a fact in all of our lives. As concern has grown, so have the claims and denials, the scare tactics, and the myriad of ways to become “carbon neutral.� We are receiving more and more emails and calls from concerned individuals who wonder what the future holds and what they can do to reduce their carbon footprint in the immediate future. Because of these concerns and questions, we at Trees for the Future are striving to continuously improve our knowledge of climate change, carbon emissions, and the role that the trees we help to plant play in this phenomenon. It is important to remind people that we don’t plant trees with the specific intent of offsetting carbon emissions. We do, however, see the CO2 that our trees take in as being a beneficial part of the work we do, and want to share that benefit with those individuals and business interested in becoming more energy-efficient. Potentially up to 1 million tons of CO2 is being sequestered by the trees we have planted over the last 20 years, turning a hazardous greenhouse gas into shelter, food, medicines and other things people
need. In this way, by assisting people to plant trees to help them meet their pressing needs, we're also making a major contribution to the fight against global warming. We offer you, your family or business an opportunity to reduce your carbon footprint. Consider the following: - The average fast-growing, multi-purpose tree we plant in the tropics or subtropics annually sequesters up to 50 lbs of carbon dioxide - An average American is responsible for annually causes the emission of about 19 tons of CO2. For a family of four, this would be about 77 tons. - It would therefore require the onetime planting of about 3,200 trees to remove these 77 tons of CO2 from the global atmosphere every year. Trees for the Future plants 3,200 trees for approximately $320. To participate in our carbon offestting program, please email or call us for a Business Energy Audit form or Home Energy Audit form. Or contact us to learn about our Global Cooling Answer Book, which is available for $5 plus $2 shipping. -Dave Deppner
Page 14 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No.2
Opinion - The Hands on the Clock
When you find that all and, at least, got a lot of people thinking about the those jokes about getting environment and how it affects their future. old are true, they stop Still, there's much to be done. At least 95% of the being so funny. So far this exhibitors were there just to sell something to people winter and spring I've who were there to buy something to hang in their bathspent weeks in Belize, rooms to show that they are "environmentally aware". Honduras, the Philippines Being aware, unfortunately, is a long way from being and Ethiopia and, along the active. way, I've found that 13Now if all that concern, that energy, those resources, hour airplane rides, ice were used to develop this and other programs to cold showers, straw mat- restore degraded lands, to bring atmospheric carbon tresses and mountain down to acceptable levels, to develop more and better climbing aren't so much alternatives to an economy built around fossil fuels, all fun anymore. And eating breakfast with mommy mon- of us could feel a lot more secure about our futures. key and her baby sitting on the table staring at your I'm concerned not because I'm getting old and cranky, orange juice has lost much of its former appeal. but because those scientists who earlier met in Paris, Now I'm being asked to come back to Ethiopia, to and are now meeting in Brussels, people whose repuspend a couple of weeks in Haiti, and another week in tations are beyond reproach and who now, finally, are Honduras. The rest of the staff is starting to look some- able to freely discuss their findings, tell us that, at best, what beat up as well. Still, it's getting trees planted - we have a half-dozen more years to do something like never before - and, for us, that makes it all worth about all this. Before it's too late. Before the planet while. Because, as the scientists are declaring now in "tips". The hands on the clock are moving fast. Not so Brussels, the hands on the environmental clock are much for me as for all of us. Please help and please tell also moving very fast. That makes it especially impor- your friends to help as well. tant that we show the world that there are answers, practical, low-cost, answers that bring fast results. That's the message we tried to bring to some 34,000 people who attended the first Green Festival in Chicago recently. The whole bunch of us went. We drove - not a great idea. This was the sixth such environmental trade show where we had an exhibit. We'll go to many more, I'm sure, because the time is short. People need to know what the program is achieving, and what it can achieve as more people and businesses join in. Once more, we ate the environmental hot dogs (without dogs) and fried chicken (without chicken). We drank the drinks brewed from some unidentified root from some rainforest, to learn what other groups are doing, to gain new members and, we hope, to make many people more aware of the global environmental situation - and that something can be done, is being done, to make things better. We gave interviews for television stations and, wonderfully, some photographs of our projects were shown on Oprah Winfrey that John Leary is interviewed about our work by a weekend. Chicago TV station. We found many of our new business partners also there, showing people what they are doing to support and expand your program worldwide, to save the environment. We made some friends Page 15 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XIV, No. 4
Inside
Summer Goals
This issue is dedicated to John Leary and all of the important work he did for our organization, building it into what it is today. We’ll miss you John!
Reaching Our Goal
In our winter edition, we told of the great challenge we face in planting nearly nine million trees in 2007. We'd like to report that we are nearing that goal, with some 2,300,000 seedlings started in Ethiopia, 2,100,000 in Honduras, 1,800,000 in the Philippines and about 750,000 in West Africa. New projects are starting in p. 1 Philippines Update Cameroon, the Yucatan of Mexico and now p. 4 Ethiopia Update - Two Million Trees! an exciting challenge in Rwanda. p. 7 Cameroon Highlands Project Intro. This is a good time to point out that we never could have achieved this without the p. 8 Honduras Update vision and hard work of people working p. 10 Polyface Farm Tour daily in these communities. They're out p. 11 Goodbye John Leary there in the rain, the bugs, the dust every p. 11 Agroforestry Graduates day helping friends and neighbors. They p. 12 New Senegal Training Center give long hours to their communities - and p. 13 Business Partners they don't get paid very well. Their reward comes in another way: leaving their world a p. 14 About Carbon Offsets better place than they found it. p. 15 Opinion: The Hands on the Clock
Loret Miller Ruppe Center P.O. Box 7027 Silver Spring, Maryland 20907
Address change ? Duplicate Mailing? Change as shown Remove from List Mail Changes or Call 800-643-0001
Printed by wind energy on recycled paper with soy ink