Winter 2008 Newsletter

The quarterly newsletter of Trees for the Future

Winter 2008 Vol. XVI, No. 4

Cameroon Update: One country, 2000 Farmers, 2 million trees!

Throughout the year, supporters, partners, and beneficiaries of Trees for the Future have been receiving frequent updates about the phenomenally successful program developing in Cameroon.

TREES is currently the largest tree planting program in Cameroon, thanks to the tireless efforts of our local partners. This October and November, TREES Africa and Caribbean Program Coordinator Ethan Budiansky traveled throughout Cameroon’s West, Northwest, and Southwest provinces to evaluate the results of this years work. Accompanying Ethan were our Field Baptiste Mitigan’s farm in the Western Province utilized Acacia Angustissima Representative Louis Nkembi, and and Calliandra spp. along slopes to decrease erosion and increase soil fertility his assistant Robin Achah. Ethan learned a lot during the trip about the specific rural that their crop yields decrease from year to year and challenges and possible solutions and he is returning to they are forced to spend lots of money (if they can the United States with very high expectations for 2009! afford to) on conventional fertilizers, or they must simply move into other lands. Second, soil erosion and landslides are a significant problem, mostly due to Local Rural Challenges Each province, each district and each community faces unsustainable hillside agriculture. Third, poor farmers their own unique challenges to improving their liveli- are looking for new alternatives to bring them economhoods. A few issues were common throughout most ic benefits to improve their livelihoods. regions. First, soil fertility and water availability throughout the three provinces are quickly deteriorating due to unsustainable farming practices, increased deforestation for firewood and expanding agricultural fields, and overgrazing by cows (particularly in the Northwest Province). Consequently, farmers complain

Addressing these Issues with Trees!

TREES-Cameroon conducted needs assessments in each of these areas and then worked with farmers, farming groups and NGOs to implement agroforestry technologies which are most relevant to their situations.

Page 1 continued page 4 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4

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, self-help projects.

This newsletter is printed using 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.

Opinion: With Friendship and Respect

All this travel lately has taught me a lot. For example, contrary to the prevailing opinion, there is still one water fountain in Charles De BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dr. John R. Moore - Chairman, Dr. Peter Falk - Vice Chairman, Gaul Airport near Paris. It’s Mr. Oscar V. Gruspe - Finance Officer, Dave Deppner on the second floor, near the President, Mr. Bedru Sultan, Ms. Marilou Herman, Mr. Franz men’s room in Terminal 2.

Stuppard - Members, R. Grace Deppner - Recording Secretary But it doesn’t work. Should (non-voting) you get thirsty, somebody ADVISORY COUNCIL there will sell you a small Mr. Franz N. Stuppard - Advisor on Haiti, Dr. Mizani Kristos bottle of Evian for about West African Development, Dr. James Brewbaker - University three Euros. That’s about five dollars – or about of Hawaii, Mr. William Campbell - Seasoned Energy, Mr. Steve $40.00 a gallon.

McCrea - Global Climate Change, FL, Dr. Malcolm Novins Neither Fedex Field, where the Washington Redskins George Mason University, Dr. Noel Vietmeyer - The Vetiver Institute, Mr. Sean Griffin - Forestry & GIS Specialist, Mr. John play, nor the George Bush Airport in Houston, has any Leary - Advisor on Senegal working water fountains. Both these facilities take it one step farther: they have security guards that check STAFF to make sure you aren’t smuggling your own water in.

Dave Deppner - Founder, Executive Director But so far none of the American monopolies has been R. Grace Deppner - Founder, Associate Director Maryann Manuel - Membership Services able to sufficiently exploit this hold on the world’s Gorav Seth - Ruppe Center Coordinator most essential commodity to get anywhere near the Josh Bogart - Central America Coordinator price the French demand.

Ethan Budiansky - West Africa Coordinator There are perhaps, in all our lives, times when we Jeff Follett - South America Coordinator find that the person we are dealing with is at a serious Francis Deppner - Southeast Asia Coordinator David Tye - East Africa Coordinator disadvantage. (Such as a very thirsty traveler in the Heather Muszyinski - Grants Coordinator Houston airport.) What we do when in a situation like Tebabu Assefa - Media/Education Coordinator that is, I believe, pretty much the mark of what sort of Jennifer Brandt - TREE PALS Coordinator person each of us is: do we push all the harder when Gabe Buttram - Business Partner Coordinator we find the other person unable to push back? Or do FIELD TECHNICIANS we treat that person as a friend, as we would want to Jean Bosco - Burundi, Louis Nkembi - Cameroon, Dr. Yigezu be treated in such a situation, leaving them some abilShimeles - Ethiopia, Dr. Pascal Woldomariam - Ethiopia, ity to continue – some self respect. And, in the bargain, Guillermo Valle - Honduras, Subramanian Periyasamy - India, perhaps getting a new friend.

Sagapala Gangisetty - India, Donal Perez - Nicaragua, Danny In our work, we increasingly see the effects of what Zabala - Philippines, Omar Ndao - Senegal, Kay Howe Indonesia can only be called “corporate greed”. At one time, that was mostly clear-cut logging of ancient forests. Over To receive this newsletter or for more information, contact: the years we lost some good friends who tried to TREES FOR THE FUTURE oppose that. Now, as the forests are running out, this The Loret Miller Ruppe Center greed has branched into new endeavors: production of for Sustainable Development P.O. Box 7027 biofuels from corn for our cars has effectively doubled Silver Spring, MD 20907 the price of bread and milk here and around the world.

Toll Free: 1-800-643-0001 As local groups began to discover ways to make Ph: 301-565-0630 organic fuels from non-edible crops, other greedy info@treesftf.org businesses have secured lands throughout the WWW.PLANT-TREES.ORG Developing World, have made contractual agreements Page 2 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4

that deprive local communities of most of the potential profits while further devastating these already-degraded lands. Most of their contracts are not designed to produce sustainable benefit to the growers. Just quick bucks for the buyers.

In the agri-business world there used to be a saying, something like this: you have a sheep. Every year you shear it and both of you are happy. But if, instead of shearing your sheep, you cut too deep, then all you have is a dead sheep.

Does any of this have anything to do with planting trees? Yes, in fact it does. We are asked, quite frequently these days, how our program works. How are we able to convince all these families, mostly living in abject poverty, to voluntarily bring trees back to their pitifully small upland holdings? Why are we squatting down in villages so remote it takes hours of walking just to reach the nearest highway? We are asked: wouldn’t our program do more for the environment if we met with corporate officers in their boardroom, convincing them to plant “tree farms” across thousands of acres of rich bottom land? The fact is that, no, that strategy can never resolve the grave environmental situation that exists in these developing communities.

There has always been plenty of attention, adequate funding, superior technology, available to maintain the tree farms on the fertile lowlands. But the hillsides, where the less fortunate are forced to live, have been largely ignored. Development planners believe, although we disagree, that an acre of rich bottom land can be eight times as productive as an acre of rough

Halloween came to this village in Butajira. Francis made some friends, but had barely enough candy to go around as kids kept coming from every direction.

hillside. This puts the upland family at a serious disadvantage and so, according to the thinking of the planners, why bother working with them?

And yet, it is the trees of these uplands that either hold the water to irrigate those bottom land fields in the dry season or, because of deforestation, are not there to prevent disastrous flooding at times of heavy rains. It is the debris from upland forests that, over centuries, continuously built those rich soils that produce so much.

Which is why we work in communities where there is great, and unmet, need. Where people are at this great disadvantage because, until now, nobody has seen a need to work with them, to provide them the ideas, the technical inputs, needed to save their lands and way of life. We do this in friendship, and with respect, because they deserve it: If anybody is going to plant the trees that can save our environment and our climate, it will be these families who have earned our friendship and respect.

Here’s another way to look at it: suppose your family suddenly had to offset their “carbon footprint” which, for a typical US family of four, would mean planting about 4,000 trees – or about six acres. For most of us, a situation like that would make us want some good friends. In the program you’re supporting, you are gaining these good friends.

At the National Palace, Dave and Grace Deppner accept the award for planting 18 million trees in Ethiopia – on behalf of the several thousand families that did all the hard work.

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Cameroon Update (continued from page 1) Producing Green Fertilizer In order to address issues of decreasing soil fertility, Trees-Cameroon trained farmers how to plant trees in their fields which would improve it’s fertility and increase cash crop yields. Farmers planted leguminous, nitrogen fixing species such as Calliandra spp., Acacia angustissima and Leucaena leucocephala, in long lines at around 5 meter spacing throughout their fields. However, 90% of the potential fertilizer comes from the tree’s leaves. Therefore, every 3-4 months, the farmer coppices the trees and mixes the rich organic leaf matter into the soil and around the crops. They can then use the branches for needed fuel wood. In addition, they can add wood ash from home cooking for phosphorus and manure from chickens and livestock for potassium to give them a 20-10-10 (Nitrogenphosphorus-potassium) organic fertilizer.

In Cameroon, this would save a farmer around $150 per hectare per season in commercial fertilizers! More importantly, it would allow them to live off their parcel of land many years into the future and increase water availability!

Hillside Contour Planting Many of the hillsides where agriculture is being developed remain treeless. Consequently, with each rain, precious soil is eroded out of their farms and pollutes their water systems. Even worse, it is not unusual for a farmer to visit his field after a heavy rain to see his entire livelihood washed away in a landslide. The landslides have also been known to take people’s lives, destroy homes, and completely block off rural roads.

Therefore, in the more fragile areas, farmers were trained to plant trees along the contours of their farms to hold the soil firmly into place, also increasing water absorption into the soil.

Developing Alternative Economic Activities.

Amongst the most valuable components of our program are the more advanced agroforestry systems which rural farmers were developing with our

assistance. These activities include: 1. Cut-and-carry systems to feed livestock, in this case- pigs! 2.

Planting flowering trees around bee boxes to produce honey. 3. Integrating leguminous trees to improve the yields of cacao. 4. Developing alley cropping with medicinal plant production to be sold at the local and national markets.

Looking Towards 2009!

TREES-Cameroon has put into place an excellent foundation to build upon in 2009. In the next year we intend to improve what we have already started and plant upwards of 3 million trees with over 200 farmers throughout the three provinces. We are also working with the participating farming groups to establish Agroforestry Networks in each division to manage their programs and educate and mobilize other farmers to participate. In addition, the Networks are working to develop Tree Funds, which are made up of contributions and annual dues by the farming groups and will be used to develop projects in the future. Finally, a new seed regional seed production and training center will be initiated in Cameroon to serve to produce forestry seeds to meet the demands of the rural farmers and to train them in relevant agroforestry technologies.

The success of the program in Cameroon has developed into a model for many of our programs throughout Africa and the rest of the world!

Ethan and Louis meeting with farmers in the Bana Agroforestry Network

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GPS Monitoring In 2008, we launched a pilot program to provide ten GPS units and digital cameras to field representatives in our major project countries. GPS units allow you to mark a location with a high degree of precision, so that you can then locate it using maps or satellite imagery. As we have projects scattered throughout rural areas all over the Developing World, we wanted to use GPS units to help us better identify the locations of our projects, making our work more transparent and verifiable. They also allow us to “geotag”digital pictures, which can then be easily placed on a map (like Google Earth).

As our staff go to the field, they have been training our field reps in the proper use of the instrument. By October, we had provided units to our partners in Ethiopia, India, Honduras, Cameroon, Tanzania, Senegal, Haiti, and Brazil, and we had developed the protocols to collect and manage the data. This year’s pilot program has collected over 70 points, most with pictures, which you can view on our website or on Google Earth.

In 2009, we will provide 20 more units and cameras to our field technicians, with the goal of having GPS points and photographs from all of the villages and nurseries in our major country programs. We are benefitting from the tremendous development of software and websites that is allowing us to gather and display this data in an extremely cost effective manner, and we know that it will be a great tool for showing what TREES is accomplishing around the world.

Please go to the projects page on our website (www.plant-trees.org/projects) to see the results of this work for yourself!

Screenshot from Google Earth

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Brazil: A New Program Makes Great Strides It all started with a phone call to Dave Deppner.

Fernanda Peixoto was living in Chicago, but felt like she was not helping anyone in her true home of Brazil.

A month later, Fernanda came to visit Trees for the Future. It was obvious from our first meeting with Fernanda that she meant business. She had already started the agroforestry training program and had spoken with agricultural professionals in Brazil. In the next 4 months, she had translated our training manual into Portuguese and Jeff was on his way to Brazil. In his three weeks in Brazil, Jeff saw the commitment of small-scale producers to improving their lands, diversifying their production, and protecting limited resources. He met with small farmers at nine o'clock at night after they had worked a long day, he bounced around through the caatinga (dry, scrubby vegetation

of the northeast) to see the difficulties of planting trees in a dry and erratic environment, and he saw the potential for agroforestry in Brazil. Since that time, we have reached 100 people through 25 trainings and have started 21 nurseries. There is plenty of room for growth for the program; however, we are focusing on the development of our initial projects in S達o Paulo State. We are still discussing ways that Trees for the Future can help communities in the northeast. Due to the timing of the rains, we had to put nursery projects on hold until 2009. Although no two projects are the same, we can apply knowledge gained in southern Brazil to future projects in other parts of the country.

Thank you again for your past, present, and future support of this program.

These seedlings will be used to create a forest garden in Oriente

After-school Moringa project with students will help improve nutrition in the local community

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Planting Trees for Peace in Burundi In 2008, Trees for the Future had the incredible oppor- is using this opportunity to teach participants about tunity to participate in a program to promote peace and peaceful communication. prosperity through the planting of trees. Burundi has This year has proved to be a huge success in Burundi. the unfortunate distinction as being It is important to note that none of one of the most impoverished and this would have been possible In 2008, Jean has been environmentally devastated counwithout the financial and organizaworking in three provinces tries in Africa. Over 20 years of tional support of Church of the ethnic conflicts between Hutus and on the east side of Burundi Redeemer in Bethesda, Maryland, Tutsis has left much of the land to plant over 250,000 trees where Jean served as a Pastor. degraded, the economy shattered, In November, East Africa on degraded lands.

More and development halted. More Coordinator, David Tye, visited than half of the population suffers importantly, he is working Hope for Burundi’s program. from malnutrition-- Add to that the with both Hutus and Tutsis, David held a workshop and trained devastation from an AIDS epidemJean and his local partners on new ic which has left half the popula- who are planting trees side- agroforestry techniques. In addition under the age of 15! Recently, tion, they discussed how to by-side in peace. thanks to a state of relative stabiliimprove the program for 2009. ty, we have had the opportunity to Building upon the incredible sucdevelop our program with the help of local partners in cess achieved this year, Jean is looking to expand his Washington and Burundi. program into 5 provinces and plant ONE MILLION Jean Bosco Hakizimana, founder of Hope for trees with 100,000 participants in 2009!

Burundi, visited the Trees for the Future USA office back in February 2008 with a dream and the passion to return to his home country to take part in the rebuilding process. Trained and experienced in conflict management, Jean had a vision to promote peace through the planting of trees! Despite their differences, the clashing Hutus and Tutsis share something very important in common which Jean hoped to build upon—they both want to improve their lives and the lives of their families. And with the help of Trees for the Future he has been helping them do exactly that.

Since Jean’s initial visit, Africa Program Coordinator Ethan Budiansky has been working with Jean to develop a tree planting program in Burundi which focuses on the Forest Garden model and establishing sustainable land-use systems.

With a handful of seeds, some new knowledge, and the support of TREES, he returned home to the Ruyigi Province to begin working.

In 2008, Jean has been working in three provinces on the east side of Burundi to plant over 250,000 trees on degraded lands. More importantly, he is The First Meeting: Hope for Burundi Founder Jean Bosco, working with both Hutus and Tutsis, who are plant- TREES Program Coordinator Ethan Budiansky, and Jane ing trees side-by-side in peace. The staff of Hope Coe from the Church of the Redeemer meeting for the first for Burundi are half Hutus and half Tutsis, and Jean time in the spring of 2008 at TREES Silver Spring Office Page 7 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4

A Hundred Million Trees!

In early November, Grace, Dave and Francis Deppner TREES and our local partner, Greener Ethiopia (GE), were in Addis Ababa attending a dinner at the National had discussed this with the President over the past year.

Palace at the invitation of Ethiopia’s President Girma Already, hydroelectric dams are under construction but Waldogeorgis. TREES was honored for our part in the President recognizes one fact that earlier program planting 18 million trees there over the past eight planners failed to understand: that unless forest cover years. is restored and maintained on these fragile uplands, the Also honored was Ethiopian Airlines, which has reservoirs will quickly silt up and then the only prodbecome the World’s FIRST GREEN AIRLINE by uct will be mud. planting one tree for each of its passengers in 2008 – This erosion threat is already obvious along the many with the promise to double this in the year ahead. The large rivers leaving Ethiopia. In the past, TREES plantpresident, himself an ed many thousands of trees ardent environmentalist in Somalia, along the ferand elected twice now on tile land formed between the Green Party ticket, the Jubba and Shebeli received an award for his Rivers, in the rich thick vision and support in keeptopsoil, often 10 meters ing this tree program growdeep, that the Somalis call ing. “the red gold of Ethiopia”.

It should be mentioned GE and TREES are that among those receiving already planning an expanrecognition was Hayatti sion of the present project, Shamil, who is one of the which is reforesting the field technicians developRebu and Wabe Rivers, to ing an extension program the Gibe River some 70 for the villages of the km. to the south. Another Guraghe Zone. Himself a major effort now being farmer in that community, planned is the watershed of he well understands the Lake Tana, near Gondor, hard life that past deforabout 350 Km. to the estation forced on local northwest of Addis Ababa. families. He has become This massive lake becomes most enthusiastic about the a powerful waterfall, which Living fences intercropped with three species practical ideas he and other Ethiopians call “the water (Grevillea, Leucaena and Sesbania) are becoming very technicians are developing. that smokes”.

Ideas such as repairing popular. The Grevillea is a fast-grower, with 9” diame- This is the beginning of ter trunks in only five years, and looks to become an deep gullies formed by a the Blue Nile River which acceptable substitute for Eucalyptus trees. combination of over-grazproduces about 86% of all ing and heavy rains. Planting trees and vetiver grass, the water in the Nile system. It is a matter of great they are turning these reclaimed areas into intensive international concern because the Nile travels through forage systems as an alternative to the very damaging nine countries. More than 120 million people in Egypt open grazing of the past. alone depend on the Nile for their very survival. And A part of the president’s vision is to return the devas- the flow of this great river has been falling by 1% each tated uplands of Ethiopia to their former reputation as year for the past ten years. Lake Tana at one starting the “Water Tower of Africa” by restoring forests and point and Lake Victoria at the other both are in need of life to these thousands of watersheds, giving Ethiopia much attention. the ability to market clean hydro-electric power in the To reforest even 20% of the Lake Tana watershed Horn of Africa and to Egypt and the Sudan. would require the planting of more than 80 million Page 8 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4

trees. The surrounding mountainous land has been almost completely deforested, which has impoverished much of the local population and caused the loss of much of the past diversity. And yet, as we studied aerial photos of the area, we saw dozens, maybe hundreds, of small, round, patches of green. These are the sites of monasteries, most of them hundreds of years old. The monks had preserved areas of the natural forests on their lands. By working outwards from these preserves, planting fastgrowing, pioneer species, the program would bring about a natural regeneration of many ancient species over much of the area within a very few years. In time, this might be as great a contribution to Africa as the increased flow of the Nile River.

These are some of the considerations that are causing many people in the Horn of Africa, A traditional bee hive is compared to the modern design which and elsewhere, to be talking about “a hundred farmers are being trained to construct in this program by million trees in five years�. These past few Greener Ethiopia. Integrating honey production with shadegrown coffee is increasing coffee production by as much as 60%. years have proven that the highly diverse peoples of Ethiopia are very capable of setting aside their differences and working together on an effort that helps the entire community.

TREES and GE hope to keep that tradition growing in Ethiopia and elsewhere.

Grevillea Robusta trees planted for bee forage and protection from damaging winds

A young Forest Garden in Ethiopia

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Greetings from Haiti During 2008, TREES has been working to help communities in three different regions of Haiti: Leogane, Desarmes, and recently in Arcahaie.

Close to 100,000 trees have been out-planted and we have carried out numerous workshops and on site trainings organized for farmers and other community-based associations.. TREES is well prepared to engage in larger tree projects during the coming year, as we leverage our strong local presence to meet the tremendous need in these and other communities.

The work that TREES has done thus far in Haiti to face environmental degradation has already had noticeable positive effects: Degraded lands are being restored and people have demonstrated concern about the sustainable management of their natural resources. This hope would not show up without your support!

In July 2008 TREES Haiti program Advisor, Mr. Franz Stuppard, and the Africa and Caribbean program coordinator, Mr. Ethan Budiansky, brought Timote Georges on board as TREES field representative in Haiti. Timote’s presence quickly helped mobilize the local community. In August 2008, community members in Delice (Arcahaie) stood up with TREES technician Timote Georges to establish their own community-based tree-nursery.

Taking a break during a training session in Leogane

first fruit of TREE's sensitization work in these Haitian communities. Timote, and TREES, believes that local people are effective local problem-solvers. Over time, the interest and enthusiasm for participating in tree planting programs has increased, with dozens of communities calling for help in their reforestation endeavors. TREES intends to help these individuals in their efforts to reclaim their livelihoods.

Tree Planting and Agroforestry in the coastal zone From October to November 2008 TREES worked on tree planting project with two communities in the hillside of Arcahaie (Delice and Digue Phoby). Farmers of this region become aware of the connection between traditional agricultural practices and the process of deforestation, such as when temporary fences are made Looking forward to 2009 with branches or tree trunks.

In 2009 approximately one million trees, primarily Farmers are now altering these fences to live fencing multi-purpose and fast-growing species (MPFG), will which is an appropriate agro-forestry technology that, be out planted to restore hundreds of hectares of lifewhen properly designed, can provide sustained long less land on the mountainous side of the Arcadine term benefits to participants. During this work in coast. Furthermore, TREES will be opening a local Arcahaie about 10.000 trees were planted out in the office in this area, where currently local NGOs, offihillside of Delice, mostly for live fencing technology. cials, school children and over ten community-repreThe work and support that TREES has provided in sentatives from St. Marc to Bethel are waiting to parHaiti has offered new perspectives on the solution to ticipate in the 2009 program. Expectations for great deforestation. Namely, people are happy that the phi- success are higher than ever. Many thanks for supportlosophy of "the sense of responsibility at the commu- ing Trees for the Future's program in Haiti. nity level" has infiltrated reforestation efforts after -Timote Georges, Haiti field representative many years. This may be the Page 10 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4

Nursery being established in Delice

Farmers in Arcahaie planting trees for live fencing

Forest Garden Project in Belize This November TREES Central America project coordinator, Joshua Bogart, Traveled to Belize. The first stop on his trip to oversee new projects in Belize was a forest garden workshop in collaboration with the Ya’axche Conservation Trust, in the community of Medina Bank in the Toledo district of southern Belize.

The forest garden project in this community is designed to improve the nutrition levels in the diets of the community members in rural southern Belizean communities (mostly of Ketchi and Mopan Mayan decent), as well as creating economic development from sales of excess production.

In this workshop, Joshua taught about integrated pest management and integrated fertility management using nitrogen fixing trees and shrubs. Also taught were opportunities for using live Nitrogen fixing trees such as Gliricidia sepium as living trellises for vine crops, and living fences and integration of deep rooted timbers species such as Cordia alliodora.

Community members who are interested will be supplied seedlings from Ya’axche’s nursery and further training Joshua Bogart teaching Forest Garden workshop and support from TREES FOR THE FUTURE and Ya’axche staff.

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Update from East Africa David Tye, TREES East Africa Regional Coordinator, wood needs at the household level helps to greatly moved to Moshi, Tanzania this August to set up our reduce deforestation, and reduces the work load of TREES East Africa Regional Office. Over the past 3 women and children in rural communities. Many stumonths, he has spent almost all of his time working dents were skeptical of the benefits of such stoves; with organizations in the field to prepare for the however Yvette was patient in her explanations and upcoming nursery season. Soon we hope that he will convinced most students of the benefits of fuel-effihave some time to get to cient stoves. She challenged know his new home town. each of the 90 participants to During a recent trip to construct a fuel-efficient Uganda, David conducted stove in the homes. training sessions with two The Agency for local Ugandan Organizations.

Environment and Wetlands On November 6, 2008, Trees (AEW) is a Ugandan NGO for the Future, along with the that focuses on environmental Agency for Environment and education and sustainable Wetlands (AEW), sponsored environmental management. a one-day workshop on AEW works with university Agroforestry and student volunteers to visit priPermaculture at Makerere mary and secondary schools University in Kampala. The throughout Uganda to teach participants at the workshop the importance of maintaining included approximately 90 the environment and tree Environmental Management planting.

Students from the University.

David Tye also conducted a The workshop was organized two-day seminar with the

by David Ssemwogerere, the David Tye teaching how to make a seedbed to Ugandan Scouts on Executive Director of AEW November 8 – 9, 2008 at Ugandan Scouts in Kampala with the assistance of David Kaazi, the Ugandan National Tye of TREES and Yvette Ampaire of AEW. Scout Camp, south of Kampala. The participants David Tye taught the basic theories and ideas behind included 25 Scout Leaders and Scout Youths from agroforestry focusing on many of the concepts three districts close to Kampala. The two-day seminar described in the TREES Agroforestry Training was organized by National Scout Officials, Mathius Manual. He focused on different agroforestry systems, Lumbuko and Richard Ssali, and by David Tye of such as windbreaks, live fences, alley cropping, and TREES. Trees for the Future funded the two-day semrotational fallow. He also discussed in detail livestock inar, while The Ugandan Scouts provided the accommanagement, terracing and composting. The students modations at Kaazi Scout Camp for free. showed extensive interest and substantial skepticism of The first day of the seminar included agroforestry thethe Forest Garden concept, as they asked dozens of ory and concepts, focusing on the various benefits of questions about the details and viability of the Forest tree planting and using trees in an agricultural system.

Garden concept. David took time to respond to numer- David Tye extensively discussed alley cropping, windous questions raised by the participants to ensure that breaks, and the Forest Garden concept, and the types of the ideas and techniques in agroforestry were under- tree species that can be included in each system. David stood. discussed the benefits of Leucaena, Calliandra Yvette Ampaire of AEW, who assisted David Tye in calothyrsus, Sesbania sesban, Senna siamea, Gliricidia the workshop, discussed in detail the concepts behind sepium, Albizia lebbeck, and Faidherbia albida and fuel-efficient stoves, highlighting the benefits of such how each species can be used in different agroforestry stoves in reducing fuel wood requirements of house- systems. holds. This reduction in fuel The second part of the seminar Page 12 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4

focused on establishing a tree nursery, so that each of the participants will be able to manage their own nursery from which to teach other Scouts. David explained and demonstrated pretreatment methods for seeds of each of the tree species listed in TREES Agroforestry Training Manual. The participants then practiced establishing a seed bed in an optimal location to start a tree nursery. David described and demonstrated the three common methods for raising seedlings in a nursery: 1) polythene tubes, 2) bare-stem, and 3) Swaziland beds. All three were discussed because there are drawbacks and benefits to each method, and individual circumstances determine which method is the most effective.

Before the seminar ended, the participants established a seed bed for approximately 1,000 Senna siamea seedlings. The Trees for the Future’s East Africa Regional Office in Moshi, Tanzania Ugandan Scouts will manage these seedlings and will out-plant the seedlings to areas of Kaazi Scout Camp when the heavy rains begin in February. Each of the participants were also given between 500 and 1,000 tree seeds of either Sesbania sesban, Senna siamea, Leucaena leucocephala, or Markhamia lutea for establishing their own tree nurseries from which to facilitate additional trainings.

Both training workshops were a great success. Over 100 participants were trained in the basics of agroforestry and the importance of tree planting. Many of these participants will go on to establish tree nurseries of their own and plant trees in many areas of Uganda. Most importantly, they will train others on the importance of tree planting and help ensure sustainability for years to come.

The Green Festivals and The Green Business Conference The Green Festival, an annual event since 2001, is the Conference for the first time. This event brings togethlargest sustainability event in the world. It is a celebra- er businesses from across the country to hear stories tion and exhibition of all things green, sustainable and from green business leaders, share ideas, make connecenvironmentally friendly. TREES has been participat- tions, and develop models for success in the emerging ing in Green Festivals across America since 2003, with green marketplace. the goal of increasing public awareness about serious It was inspirational and energizing to see so many environmental and social issues, and how tree planting businesses that are passionate about our Earth and can help solve some critical problems. motivated to meet the global challenges we are facing.

This year TFTF had a booth at the Washington, DC With creative, fresh ideas, these businesses are facing festival as well as the San Francisco festival. The the economic downturn with innovative, forward-lookWashington event was attended by over 36,000 people, ing business models designed to spur responsible and and Trees for the Future was one of approximately 400 sustainable growth. On top of meeting so many fantasexhibitors. We spent two days talking with the thou- tic people, this was a great opportunity for us to make sands of festival-goers about our organization and the connections with more green business leaders that are benefits of planting trees. interested in partnering with Trees for the Future to The San Francisco Green Festival was only one week plant trees across the developing world. after the Washington event. We were very excited to We would like to thank everyone who came out to the be in San Francisco again and to have the opportunity festivals and business conference this year. This was to connect with our many friends on the West Coast. the biggest showing to date, and we certainly hope and While three days of standing on our feet and educating expect that the trend continues. In particular, we would people about our mission was tiring, it was also a lot of like to thank all of you who stopped by our booth or fun and highly successful. table to chat and to learn more about our work. With In the days leading up to the S.F. Green Festival, we your help, we will continue to spread the word and the also attended the San Francisco Green Business work of tree-planting and Trees for the Future!

Page 13 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4

Introducing Jenny Brandt Jenny studied English at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where the campus is also an arboretum (and is a great place to learn about tropical trees). After watching An Inconvenient Truth; she applied for an internship with a carbon offset company to learn more about how to help fight climate change. They sent her to Nicaragua to see how reforestation projects benefit local communities, ecosystems, and sequester carbon from the global atmosphere. She came home speaking much better Spanish, and she soon found Trees for the Future.

Hi, I’m Jenny Brandt and I am going to be coordinating the Tree Pals program in 2009. We expect it to be a big year, with students planting 400,000 beneficial trees around the world. The majority of these trees will be planted on degraded lands in rural communities in Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize, Ethiopia, India and the Philippines. We plant in these regions because planting trees in these areas addresses critical environmental and social problems that stem from unsustainable land use. Additionally, trees in tropical and subtropical regions will sequester the most carbon, and this work will greatly benefit poor communities who are disproportionately affected by global warming.

For example, many families are suffering from food insecurity, malnutrition, landslides, flooding, droughts; all of these issues can be alleviated through the planting of trees. But that is only half the program, we are recruiting 200 schools from those six countries along with 200 American schools which will be connected through correspondence about global environmental issues. Students will learn about the benefits that trees provide and will be empowered by their efforts to counter environmental degradation. Each American student will have 40 trees planted in their names, sequestering a ton of carbon every year.

We are in the process of recruiting schools now. If anyone has family or friends who are of school age or who are teachers in the above stated countries that might be interested in joining this program we would love to be in contact with them. Participating in this program does not cost the schools anything- all donations come from businesses and individuals who are interested in supporting Tree Pals. For more information email me at Jenny@treesftf.org.

Page 14 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4

Pictures from 2008 At the end of the year we like to put in a few of our favorite photographs. We hope they help to show you some of the great work that your program is accomplishing. Thank you for your support!

Gangisetty and Ravi Reddy standing in the shade of 1 year old Sesbania trees in India

A Tree Pals student in Ethiopia with a seedling

Families in Honduras showing MPFG tree seed provided by TREES

Mlava community tree nursery in Kakamega, Kenya

Page 15 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4

Searching for Holiday Gifts? Plant Trees!

Give your friends and loved ones the gift of TREES this holiday season! Send them a Tree Planting Gift Certificate, and help improve people’s livelihoods in rural communities around the world.

They will receive a personalized tree-planting certificate, with a description of the project and community where the trees are being planted.

These certificates supported the planting of over 1,000,000 trees in 2008!

You can order a certificate online at www.plant-trees.org, or by calling 301-565-0630.

Loret Miller Ruppe Center P.O. Box 7027 Silver Spring, Maryland 20907

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