The quarterly newsletter of Trees for the Future
Summer 2009 Vol. XVII, No. 2
Philippines Update: REBUILDING LANDS and SAVING PEOPLE What happens to rural families when their lands no longer support them? When they are forced from their communities, knowing no other life than in the uplands, finding they have no job skills to offer (even if there were jobs).But there are no jobs and no support services to assist them. They join a global army of hundreds of thousands of such families each year that have run out of options. They no longer have a home. Now they sleep under cardboard boxes, under sheets of rusty tin along the city streets. They drink and wash from water sources that are better not to be Work with the Aeta's Reforestation Project in Botolan imagined. Their daughters are sold manage their lands in an environmentally sustainable into prostitution to put food on the family table. Their sons, if given work at all, pull heavy carts way. It is this condition, incidentally, that brought about through the streets or carry bags weighing 220 pounds up steep gangways onto ships because people say it’s the establishment of your TREES organization. Those cheaper than using machines. And if these young men of us who started it faced a most difficult challenge break down, no repair bills. Just push them aside. seeing life as it exists in Cite Soleil, in Port-au-Prince, There are more to replace them. It’s cheaper than or the dumps of Guatemala City, or the North Pier area of Manila or a thousand other urban slums growing in repairing machinery. When they create a big enough eyesore, when they the developing world. It’s hard to stand and look at what’s happening to the over-strain the city services, they are often chased out people forced to live there. Long before words like of the city to make their way on the public beaches or along dry riverbeds. These unfortunates might well be “green economy” or “climate change” came into our called casualties of an environment gone wrong. Gone vocabulary, it had always been our goal to find ways to wrong because nobody had thought it necessary to keep more families from falling into this hopeless pit. show people in these remote villages how they could Our concern for the global situation has always come Page 1 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVII, No. 2
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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. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dr. John R. Moore - Chairman, Dr. Peter Falk - Vice Chairman, Mr. Oscar V. Gruspe - Finance Officer, Dave Deppner President, Mr. Bedru Sultan, Ms. Marilou Herman, Mr. Franz Stuppard - Members, R. Grace Deppner - Recording Secretary (non-voting) ADVISORY COUNCIL Mr. Franz N. Stuppard - Advisor on Haiti, Dr. Mizani Kristos West African Development, Dr. James Brewbaker - University of Hawaii, Mr. William Campbell - Seasoned Energy, Mr. Steve McCrea - Global Climate Change, FL, Dr. Malcolm Novins George Mason University, Dr. Noel Vietmeyer - The Vetiver Institute, Mr. Sean Griffin - Forestry & GIS Specialist, Mr. John Leary - Advisor on West Africa STAFF Dave Deppner - Founder, Executive Director R. Grace Deppner - Founder, Associate Director Maryann Manuel - Membership Services Jeffrey Manuel - Membership Services Gorav Seth - International Programs Coordinator Josh Bogart - Central America Coordinator Ethan Budiansky - West Africa Coordinator Jeff Follett - South America Coordinator Francis Deppner - Southeast Asia Coordinator David Tye - East Africa Coordinator Heather Muszyinski - Grants Coordinator Tebabu Assefa - Media/Education Coordinator Ben Austin Docampo - TREE PALS Coordinator Gabe Buttram - Business Partner Coordinator Ryan Murphy - Program Associate FIELD TECHNICIANS Jean Bosco - Burundi, Louis Nkembi - Cameroon, Dr. Yigezu Shimeles - Ethiopia, Dr. Pascal Woldomariam - Ethiopia, Guillermo Valle - Honduras, Subramanian Periyasamy - India, Sagapala Gangisetty - India, Manoj Bhatt - India, Donal Perez Nicaragua, Danny Zabala - Philippines, Omar Ndao - Senegal, Kay Howe - Indonesia, Fernanda Peixoto - Brazil, Paulino Damiano - Kenya, Mathius Lukwago - Uganda 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
Opinion: Africa Decisions in Copenhagen ? In 2008, your organization helped the people of Ethiopia plant more than six million trees. We also began a new East Africa Regional program with a headquarters in Tanzania, to better serve fast-growing programs there and in Botswana, Kenya and Uganda. What's more, we increased our efforts in Ghana, Cameroon and Senegal where we initiated a new program called the Northwest Africa Region. Across Africa we started three new training centers, hired eight additional field technicians, developed cooperative programs with Peace Corps in four countries and established two regional offices. Then last October, Grace and I were given the honor to address the heads of various government agencies of Ethiopia, together with the Diplomatic Corps, explaining why the Ethiopian program is growing so quickly and why it is so desperately needed. At that time our local partners, Greener Ethiopia and Oromia Group, unveiled their plans for the future, which include planting 100 million trees over the next five years. That idea caught on fast. The Greener Africa program took a big jump forward that night in the Royal Palace in Addis Ababa, not because of Trees for the Future but due to the support of hundreds of people with a common vision that Africa, despite the many desperate challenges it faces, can look toward a future of hope through a program developed by Africans, designed to meet their needs. That plan, as of now, is to plant 250 million trees over the next five years! That can only happen if the people of these threatened lands lead the way. Every week more communities across Africa express strong desire to join the program. At the same time, the wealthier nations of Europe and North America, with climate change very much in the news, see its mitigation as the greatest priority, and believe that programs throughout the developing world should also have this as their first priority. Most of these nations look forward anxiously to the upcom-
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Opinion (continued from page 2) ing international Conference on Global Warming and feel that it is high time for Africa to respond to the threat of global warming with one voice. It might be worth pointing out that the average family in our programs already lives very close to a "carbon neutral" life. The carbon being sequestered by the trees they plant is mostly offsetting the emissions of Europe and North America, with China also joining the ranks of the great emitters. Still, to many, the Conference remains an exciting idea. Already, the professional "conferencegoers" smell something to eat and are circling overhead. They plan for the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen in December. Supposedly this would be the ideal setting to initiate an Africa-wide dialogue. Both the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa are convinced that such an important pre-conference-conference should only be organized under their auspices so that, one more time, the delegates can learn that the world is getting hotter. Oh, yes. They want TREES FOR THE FUTURE to be there, to help with preparation of the program. So here we go again. Yes, we agree that there should be at least one organization there that has had some experience getting trees planted in the rural villages of Africa, but that organization should have the opportunity to explain why the trees are being planted! With the planet in trouble and not much time remaining in which to fix it, it seems ironic that the two halves of that planet - who must find ways to work together if we are to turn this grave threat away, still attend these conferences where nobody seems capable of seeing the others' point of view. And now we do it one more time. The United
Nations is concerned about climate change and so, of course, this must be the motivating factor for communities across Africa to plant trees. No matter that their villages are being buried in dust from the encroaching deserts. No matter that their cattle are dying of thirst. No matter that a typical West Africa family now pays more for fuel to cook their food than the food itself costs. If the international development organizations say "global warming" then Africa, with one voice will say, "the problem is global warming." And all those delegates, in their nice suits, will eat their $30 meals and sleep in their $300 hotel rooms and then everybody will go home and declare that, once again, they have studied the issue of climate change and they found the answers to Africa's problems - in Copenhagen? It would be fair to say that the seasons are changing--getting hotter, across Africa. People there know about global warming. But in the communities we assist, climate change is only an abstract idea. The problems they face, such as the well going dry, are far more compelling. Your program, in Africa and worldwide, succeeds because we are in those village and because we understand their hopes, needs, problems, capabilities and limitations. Only knowing this can we help them design programs that the people there can implement themselves to meet those needs. And because our program works, I think we'll continue to get a much warmer reception in Africa than in Copenhagen in December.
With the planet in trouble and not much time remaining in which to fix it, it seems ironic that the two halves of that planet - who must find ways to work together if we are to turn this grave threat away, still attend these conferences where nobody seems capable of seeing the others' point of view.
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Philippine Update (continued from page 1) through seeing that the environment has a human face. In the Philippines, where many of our ideas for sustainable land management were first developed, there are now more than six million such destitute families; far more than the traditional sources of community charity can possibly accommodate. On the other hand, these same destructive land management systems, highlighted by rampant deforestation, have rendered some 45% of the total land area, about 13 million hectares and most of it public lands, as “D&A” (Degraded and Abandoned). The destroyed land area is constantly expanding, producing nothing of importance, generating floods and wildfires and thereby posing a continuous threat to roads, bridges, communities and productive areas nearby. Over many years, your program has proven three important things: first, at a one-time cost of less than $75.00 per acre, these lands can be restored to sustainably high productivity in less than two years. Second, it has proven that this is possible by bringing fast-growing, permanent, sustainably productive trees back to these lands. And third, these same impoverished, desperate families now trying to survive in city slums know and like agriculture. Time and again they have proven that, given a chance, they will make the sacrifices necessary to make these devastated lands green and productive
“Black” charcoal is now being sold illegally and is a major cause of deforestation. The program expects to sell “green” charcoal as an incentive to bring trees back to these uplands.
again. The technicians of TREES and our Filipino partners at TREES/Philippines, EarthFriends and other groups, believe this is a happy set of coincidences. Especially now that the government of the Philippines, seeing their 7,000 island nation increasingly threatened by the rising seas because of global warming, seeks to bring people back to these lands and, with them, the trees that will sustainably support necessary resource production while bringing life back to the region and removing massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the global atmosphere. The biggest part of this program is now at work in Zambales, some 200 km north and west of Manila along the South China Sea. Already more than 3,000 families, most of them victims of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo some years ago, have returned and are proving how quickly the land can be restored to productive use. They also prove how trees, together with food, energy and forage crops, can support each other in Forest Gardens. Other such projects to the south, in Bicol, Panay and Cebu are underway. Early trials with several new species on a research farm nearby have proven successful and have led to new and better combinations of trees useful in establishing Forest Gardens that can, within a few years, assure protection against food shortages in Zambales and other provinces. Earlier combinations of deep-rooted leguminous trees with pineapple, bananas and papaya yielded higher production and fruit with excellent taste and quality. Trials continue to find ways to bring more diversity and sustainable income to these lands. The local organizations are working closely together, with representatives in all 20 towns of the province. Two field offices/training centers have been established. As more local groups come to understand the growing environmental threat, some other new and exciting initiatives are starting up. One is the largescale production of organic fertilizer. Another is production of organic bio-fuels, including jatropha and coconut oils. Some 70,000 coconut seedlings and nearly 25,000 Jatropha tree seedlings have recently been distributed and local experience is proving this fruit has several hitherto unexplored benefits.
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Tree Pals: Searching for Pals in the U.S. Ryan Murphy and Ben Austin Docampo arrived in San Pedro Sula, Honduras the afternoon of March 12, the first day of a two week long adventure through Honduras and Nicaragua, the purpose of which was to reestablish old lines of contact and forge new ones to promote the re-launch of the Tree Pals program. Their task was to gauge interest and feasibility of the three elements of the program: classroom education, nursery/tree planting and a letter exchange between schools in the U.S. and schools in Nicaragua and Honduras through which kids will discuss their respective planting projects and interest in environmentalism. Overall, they found interest in all aspects of the program to be high, especially for planting, but for the other two aspects as well. They were excited to find that when asked about the letter exchange teachers found the idea genuinely intriguing, and thought the students would, too—citing the chance to speak with foreign peers as an excellent chance to satisfy curiosities and discuss overlapping curriculum. When we asked students how they felt about the letters, the students were mostly shy when speaking to the two funny gringos they’d just met, but several showed excitement at the possibility of exchanging letters with students in the US and asked many questions about life abroad; everything from whether they ate
gallo pinto (a traditional rice and beans dish) to what sort of environmental problems they faced and what they were doing to combat them. The trip showed that there is strong interest for Tree Pals in schools and that there were many organizations willing to partner with us in our efforts to bring environmental education into classrooms and schoolyards. Most of the schools they visited were rural, state schools in places where the vast majority of students come from agricultural families. This is true for the schools that TREES Regional Coordinator Joshua Bogart will be working with in the communities of Santa Elena, Cerro Azul and Vicadilla in Honduras, as well as schools in the community of Masatepe, Nicaragua where TREES technician Donal Gutierrez works and lives. Most schools have several classrooms arranged in twin row buildings separated by a concrete recreation area and sometimes a stage. Some have only a room or two in the same building where several grades are taught simultaneously. All the schools they visited had electrical power and nothing else, and one only had enough to light the rooms. Two schools where Donal is teaching have computer labs, one with 6 computers the other with 10, but most do not have a single television. All of the schools in Masatepe have trouble with access to water, which
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Tree Pals (continued from page 5) comes roughly once every eight days. Access to water at school sites becomes nonexistent further into rural areas, such as the school in La Paz del Tuma, two hours from Jinotega City, Nicaragua. By and large schools have few resources; even basic amenities such as chalk and paper are a high commodity. Besides providing them with a basic guide to inform their curriculum, Tree Pals will provide schools with tangible educational resources to aid our technicians in achieving their classroom goals. An excellent tool that Tree Pals will provide is Machete Verde, a series of instructional picture and text booklets developed in Nicaragua and designed for Central American campesinos. This resource came highly recommended Donal, country technician in Nicaragua, and a teacher from from leaders of the Arenal elementary, Masatepe Nicaraguan Peace Corps and covers a variety of sustainable agricultural practices such as nursery maintenance, environmental protection, disaster prevention and protecting soil quality to name a few. In addition to the TREES technicians, Ryan and Ben met with two Peace Corps volunteers in Leon, Nicaragua. These volunteers are both teaching environmental education and life sciences in classes in 10 combined schools. The volunteers have some knowledge from their Peace Corps training concerning agroforestry and sustainable agricultural practices, but were excited for further instruction provided by the TREES Agroforestry Manual, which we left with them to fill out the exam and request seeds for their planting projects. Both volunteers were capable of creating and overseeing nurseries and tree planting with their students, and were excited to have a source for seeds to begin their work. In all, Ben and Ryan concluded that TREES would be able to implement Tree Pals in 35 schools between both countries for our first year. Already many of the nursery projects in schools are underway in preparation for the rainy season. The task now is to find elementary and middle schools from all over the US to partner with the schools abroad for the pen pal program in time for the Fall 2009 school year. It’s easy to join, so if you are a teacher, student or parent interested in bringing Tree Pals to your community, the first step is to contact Program Coordinator Ben Austin Docampo at Ben@treesftf.org. He is happy to answer any and all questions about Tree Pals you may have. Page 6 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVII, No. 2
East Africa: Countering Erosion with Contours On March 7, David Tye, the East Africa Regional training was a big success with several farmers Program Coordinator, taught a workshop to members expressing interest in adopting this technique immediof the Randa United Farmers Group (RUFG) in ately. There are plans for a follow-up workshop in Bukibokolo Sub-County of Bududa District, Uganda. May on establishing and maintaining a tree nursery. RUFG is a Community-Based Organization (CBO) In April, David met with Joel Amon, the director of that focuses on reducing poverty in the surrounding a Local Tanzanian NGO called KAESO (Kaengesa villages and increasing agriculture production. RUFG Environmental Conservation Society), which is based hopes to address these two interrelated problems, by in Sumbawanga, the capital of Rukwa Region in southplanting trees to counter soil and wind erosion, and to western Tanzania, close to the Zambian border. slowly increase KAESO has the organic matreceived 279 ter in the depletacres from the ed soils of Sumbawanga Bukibokolo Municipal S u b - C o u n t y. Council on Help from the which they want Director of to plant trees. RUFG, Moses KAESO is planKhauka, was ning to plant critical in 1 5 0 , 0 0 0 preparing and seedlings on this organizing the land, 75,000 – workshop, 100,000 of which was which they hope attended by to plant this approximately year. KAESO 30 men and manages three women farmers tree nurseries, from the comwhich are used munity. to provide Randa Village seedlings to Demonstrating the A-Frame, Randa Village-Uganda has had extenlocal schools sive soil erosion due to farming on marginal lands, and to plant on the Sumbawanga Municipal Council including steep hillsides. The most important project land. They hope to plant trees for several purposes, that farmers in the Bukibokolo Sub-County can under- first to provide sustainable firewood for use in the take to improve crop production is to contour and then local community. KAESO will plant Calliandra terrace their farms in order to counter the extensive soil calothyrsus, Gliricidia sepium, and Senna spectibilis erosion. During the workshop, David demonstrated for use as firewood and livestock fodder. Additionally, construction of the A-Frame, which is used to contour KAESO wants to plant trees for timber to be harvested hillsides. After he explained how to plant tree later and for this purpose, KAESO hopes to plant seedlings, such as Calliandra calothyrsus, on the Acrocarpus fraxinifolius and Cedrela odorata. With newly-established contours, he explained how the strong leadership and a solid vision, KAESO hopes to farmers need to stabilize the soil, by planting grasses in plant 100,000 trees this year, and just as many next front of the contour rows for the first year. Following year. the first year of growth, the roots of the tree are strong enough that the grasses can then be removed. The Page 7 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. Vol. XVII, No. 2
Pictures from Spring 2009 Please visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/plant-trees/ to view all of our photographs
TREES is assisting Takko Liggey Cooperative - to plant trees as a live fence, Senegal
Members of WECARN-Kenya discussing recently planted trees in Bumula Village, Bungoma, Kenya
Monroc Camp Nursery, Tanzania
Farmers establishing a terrace along a hillside during a training workshop in Bududa District,Uganda
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Pictures from Spring 2009 Please visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/plant-trees/ to view all of our photographs
Integrated Pest Management. We use neem and tobacco to deter pests, Brazil
Farmers and their bee box with flowering Acacia angustissima behind them, Cameroon
320,000 tree nursery in Ruyigi, Burundi
Women’s group in Ndioudiene
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3 Foot Long Moringa Pods in India One of the trees we are planting around the world is Moringa oleifera. Moringa grows quickly and is high in protein, vitamins and minerals. What’s more, the leaves, pods and to some degree the roots, are widely used as food and forage. Recently, Indian scientists bred a high yielding variety of moringa that produces a 3 foot long pod (the wild-type moringa has pods that are only 1 foot long). With proper management, this variety starts yielding in less than 5 months, and the long pods attract top prices in the market.
Field of 4 month old trees in September 2008 Vasudeva Reddy was one of the first farmers to benefit from our PKM-1 moringa distribution program in India. Prior to growing moringa, Vasudeva was planting peanuts and had been suffering from declining yields. Now, by growing moringa, he is bringing in 3 times the income, and the moringa will continue to yield for many years. For the most part, moringa seeds are directly seeded into fields, which allows for strong taproot development and the fastest growth rate. Trees for the Future purchase seeds from 2 distributors, and are finding tremendous demand from local farmers. We just harvested over 1.5 kg of fresh seed from Vasudeva’s farm, which is being used to further extend the program. This project has helped strengthen our relations with farmers in the region, and is allowing other technologies such as windbreaks and living fences to be developed in these areas. These types of technologies work in conjunction with the moringa plantings, and increase the long-term sustainability of the project.
Pods being harvested in March 2009
A jungle of Moringa!
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On the Ground in Haiti: Update from Haiti Coordinator Timote Georges This year in Haiti we will be planting one million trees in the hillsides of Chaines des Mattheux, along the Arcadine coast. Communities in the hillside and along the coast like Leveque, Thoman, Desvase, Luly, Williamson, Cariyes, Petit-Bois, Decouvert, Ti Sale, Devanbare, Bazin, Fonswel and Fond-Baptist are all benefiting from the planting program. Currently, the main occupation within these communities is transplanting trees. We are also working to finish the center of our operation, located on the national road at Leveque. In some places along the coast, with the support of TREES technicians, local people are using some agroforestry techniques, mostly building living fences in order to better protect crops and trees. According to our plan we should be transplanting in all the communities by May, which will keep us busy every day this month! Transplanting is best done when it rains like it did on Friday, May 1st when we planted 1,700 trees in the community of Travo, on a slope used to drain rainwater to the lowlands in Cabaret. The families who are benefitting from this project are the same families who suffered in the floods in August 2008. This project was decided on after a meeting in which the community learned about the importance of Children and adults watering and caring for trees in reducing erosion, flooding and other natural seedlings in the tree nursery of Devanbare disasters. The enthusiasm people are showing in caring for the newly planted trees demonstrates that they understood our message and are doing all they can to ensure a high success rate. Among the trees we have planted are 500 Mangifera indica (mango), 500 citrus species, 200 Swietenia macrophylla, 200 Catalpa longissima and 300 Leucaena leucocephala. Last week in Cariyes about 3,000 trees (1200 Swietenia macrophylla, 800 Moringa oleifera, 500 Leucaena leucocephala and 500 Albizia lebbeck) were planted. Currently, a local committee is taking care of these trees with the guidance of TREES local technicians. Our work to establish a training and resource center is continuing alongside our planting projects, with office supplies and equipment being bought to furnish In Thomas, Arcahaie school children and commuthe center when it opens. We are also preparing a plot nity members reforested this area which is now of land near the center where we can hold agroforestry under cultivation by a local farmer. demonstrations during future seminars and workshops with local groups. As you can see, we are in the thick of our work this season – transplanting trees, leading workshops and preparing new facilities for more ambitious future projects that will improve the quality of life for Haitian communities. Page 11 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. Vol. XVII, No. 2
Horn of Africa Regional Environmental Conference The Horn of Africa Regional Network is organizing the Horn of Africa Regional Environmental Conference in October 2009, to be held in Khartoum, Sudan. HoA-REN, located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, consists of members and partners of environmental NGOs and higher learning institutes from six countries in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia and Eritrea. The Network facilitates and supports cooperation between member organizations and other environmental actors, including private sector and government. HoA-REN is dedicated to combating “the contraction, loss and degradation of lakes and wetlands, as well as the rivers and streams flowing into these,” as it is “a widespread problem throughout the region.” These problems are predominantly a result of over-exploitation of water for irrigation, industrial use and other strains on the land caused by human activity. This has led to rapidly decreasing water levels in rivers and wetlands. Additionally, groundwater levels are decreasing in many parts of the region and climate change is also adversely affecting the wetlands and lakes in the Horn. In March, 2009 Tebabu Assefa of TREES and Bedru Sultan of Greener Ethiopia (GE), our in-country partner, met with Dr. Araya Asfaw, head of HoA-REN, to discuss the planning of the conference. Dr. Asfaw expressed that Africa is the continent most affected by the social and economic impacts of global warming and climate change, yet Africa’s experience and voice is not included in the global environmental discourse. The conference will provide the opportunity for African representatives to articulate their unified voice to the world and present their perspective at the upcoming UN Climate Conference in December 2009, in Copenhagen (http://unfccc.int/2860.php ). TREES and GE will be participating in the Horn of Africa Regional Environmental Conference and will present a report on TREES and GE’s eight year partnership in Ethiopia, advancing community based agroforestry to assist communities to sustainably manage their environment while providing an opportunity to improve their economic conditions. For more information about the conference: www.hoarec.org.
The Importance of Agroforestry to Me Cameroon Trees for the Future is working with numerous women’s groups and individual women farmers throughout Cameroon. Celine Che is one farmer in Mbengwi who shares her experiences partnering with TREES over the past few years: "I knew about agroforestry through ICRAF (World Agroforestry Centre) in 2005. However, the program in my area phased out in 2006, leaving me very frustrated. Then Trees for the Future (TREES) came in with its own agroforestry project in 2007 which made me very excited because it has continued to be of much assistance to me. The TREES project has helped to reforest my destroyed farm land. I received my first set of seeds from TREES in 2007 and planted them in my farm. Right now I have Prunus, Calliandra, Sesbania, Leucaena, Cajanus cajan and Acacia on my farm. Calliandra and cajanus planted with cassava in Gradually I noticed my food crop production increasing Nginibi, Cameroon over these two years, with more trees on my farm, more birds, more fertile soils and other living things. Calliandra and Acacia also provided very excellent flowers. I was advised to start a bee farming project and within a period of one year I have harvested over 40 litters of Page 12 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVII, No. 2
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Importance of Agroforestry (continued from page 12) natural honey. My economic situation seems to be gradually changing. The leaves of Leucaena, Acacia and Calliandra have also been very valuable for my livestock. I mix the leaves with their feed and it has made my animals very healthy and resistant to diseases. Cajanus has also been a very good food for my family. In two years time I am witnessing big changes in my life thanks to the coming of TREES and I will continue to practice and extend the information to my neighbors and friends. I want to thank TREES for this wonderful kind of support and change they are bringing into the life of my family and my society. I encourage them to continue to support us and increase their investment in Cameroon." Haiti Pierre-Louis Fontus is a local farmer of Arcahaie. He is among those farmers who are actively participating in TREES work in the area. Here he offers his perspective of the assistance provided by Trees for the Future in this region of the country: “We, the farmers, are fortunate to be beneficiaries of such a program; it is the best way for us to sustain our life. Some may give us food and we have enough to eat for some days, but planting trees will remain for me the way to sustainably prepare better life condition here. I remember one friend of mine plants some trees and now he is harvesting fruits and other trees Fontus doing maintenance work in a tree nursery of Arcahaie products. His little plot gives different products in different occasions during the year. He is making money without cutting down trees for making charcoal, he sells one bottle of citrus fruit for $200 Ht (about $25 us). What could be better in our case does not yet exist.” Fontus reiterated that Arcahaie has lots of problems, but the most critical for him is the degradation of the mountains that is leading to poverty. He recognizes that poverty exists due in large part to this deforestation. He believes that with trees on the tops of the mountains, erosion will be lessened and thus fertile land restored. He mentioned that with trees, a safer environment for other development initiatives can be created. Finally he claimed, “if someone wishes to help us here in Haiti, may he help us to cover our land with trees and thus our children In Arcahaie community members reforested this hillside to reduce erowill be grateful.” sion, mudslides, and flooding in the lowlands Page 13 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVII, No. 2
Providing the Foundation for Successful Agroforestry Projects We use our long-distance agroforestry training program to instruct community leaders worldwide in sustainable agroforestry practices. The curriculum covers agroforestry techniques, appropriate species, nursery management, livestock management, pest control and more. Participants receive a certificate from our organization after completing an exam. We have expanded the reach of the training program by developing manuals in English, French, Luganda, Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil and Telugu. We are also in the process of translating it into Swahili, Luo and Kirundi. So far in 2009 we have sent the manual to over 60 people from our Silver Spring, Maryland office and distributed hundreds more from our offices in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Nearly 30 people have taken the exam and graduated from the course. These students are from countries all over the world – from India to Honduras, Senegal to Nicaragua and Tanzania to Brazil. Not only do students benefit directly from the course, they also pass their new knowledge and skills on to other members of their communities: Paul Murithi – Kenya - “I will use the knowledge I have acquired to assist other members of the community to adopt/apply agroforestry in their farms.” Dickson Omandi – Kenya - “With your Agroforestry training program, I have helped my local farmers (women) to make 4 Lorena Stoves and [am] actually hoping for more and [with] the experience from this program [I] am doing a great job.” Graduates of the agroforestry training course are eligible for assistance from Trees for the Future in the form of seeds and material support. We are always impressed by the projects that develop from our training course. Anthony Kalulu – Uganda- Anthony and his group, “Organic Perspectives,” has received about $300 which they used to create and operate two nurseries. They have planted about 10,000 seedlings this year and have conducted several community sensitization programs on tree planting. Pierre Marie Tefack – Cameroon- Tefack is establishing a one-hectare agroforestry garden with the focus to enrich the soil with enough organic matter (from fast growing agroforestry trees) to produce at least 5 tonnes of pineapples, 5 tonnes of white yams, 3 tonnes of banana plantains, 4 tonnes of vegetables, 0.5 tonnes of wood fuel and 10 kg of Neem leaves for medical use. Raymond Eko – Tomnige – Cameroon – This project will plant 1,000 trees that will be used for food, medicine, fertilizer, timber and shade. Most of them will be planted in the Bakingili Community forest while others will be planted near the streets, schools and hospitals found in these communities. Planting these trees will create a clean, healthy and shaded environment especially in hospitals and schools. Douglas La Rose – Ghana – “Guaman is a small village of approximately 1,000 people that sits in the northernmost corner of the tropical rainforests of Ghana’s Volta Region. It is nestled among the rolling hills that define the boundaries between Ghana and the Republic of Togo. Since the colonial era, the area has transitioned mostly to the mono-cropping of maize (corn), yams, and other crops. It has also undergone rampant deforestation as a result of pressures from demand for timber, fuel, charcoal, and dry season fires that result from the domino-effect instigated by deforestation. Page 14 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. Vol. XVII, No. 2
Agroforestry Projects (continued from page 14) In 2006 I was working with the Wofabeng Agroforestry and Environmental Group, a community- based NGO in GuamanBuem. We found out about Trees for the Future while surfing the internet in Hohoe, the regional capital. After contacting Trees for the Future and receiving a box of seeds and train ing and technical materials, we revamped our agroforestry training program and taught local farmers how to incorporate trees into their farming methods. Soon thereafter, we established a large tree nursery in the heart of the village that contained over 10,000 seedlings of different native trees, forest species, and fruit trees: Teak, ofram, acacia, A resident of Guaman plants a Moringa mahogany, palm, mango, Cocoa, and Moringa just to name a tree during the Greening Ghana Initiative few. During Ghana’s Fiftieth Anniversary, we helped the national government in their “Greening Ghana Initiative,” to plant trees along roadsides, around vil lages, and in people’s yards in the Buem area. Children, adults, and community leaders all joined hands with the NGO to participate in the workshops and reforestation efforts. All of this was made possible through the generous help of Trees for the Future.” Douglas La Rose is a M.A student in Environmental Anthropology at San Diego State University. He continues to study human-environment relationships in the Volta Region of Ghana. You can contact Douglas via email at larose@rohan.sdsu.edu.
Moringa: Food and Fuel In 2008 TREES was contacted by Francisco Lalaz, who had just returned from a conference on biodiesel where he’d heard moringa (Moringa oleifera) could be used as a suitable alternative or complement to piñon (Jatropha curcas) as a sustainable feedstock for biodiesel, an ongoing project he had been working on with producers in Guatemala. Like many others, Francisco discarded the African oil palm option because of the large quantity of fertilizers and water needed and the fertile land it would take away from the production of food crops. Piñon was seen as a good option but is not multipurpose, only serving as an oil source. The many uses of moringa, human and animal feed from the leaf, including the ability to use presscake as a feedstock and the possibility of other markets for the oil if the biodiesel option did not pan out, was attractive. Having no luck finding a seed source in Guatemala, Francisco contacted TREES. Seeds were sent in June of 2008 from a semi-wild cultivar common in southern Honduras and Nicaragua. The initial goal of this project is to establish that moringa will grow in various parts of Guatemala, as well as to establish agronomic and cultural practices for oil pro10 month old moringa tree trunk, Guatemala. duction. Photo: Fransisco Lalaz The seed was planted in the department of Escuintla, 100 meters above sea level. The seed was wildly successful, with an approximated germination rate of 98%. After 10 months the plants are between 4 and 5 meters in height and are producing pods. The goal for this year is to expand cultivation to different areas and record the growth under different conditions of soil fertility, altitude and aridity. In addition, methods for integrating moringa production into human diets and animal rearing systems are being investigated. Page 15 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. Vol. XVII, No. 2
Loret Miller Ruppe Center P.O. Box 7027 Silver Spring, Maryland 20907
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Philippine Update: Rebuilding Lands and Saving People Opinion: Africa Decisions in Copenhagen? Tree Pals: Searching for Pals in the U.S. East Africa: Countering Erosion with Contours Best Pictures from Spring 2009 3 Foot Long Moringa Pods in India On the Ground in Haiti: Update from Haiti Coordinator Timote Georges The Importance of Agroforestry to Me Horn of Africa Regional Environmental Conference Providing the Foundation for Successful Agroforestry Projects Moringa: Food and Fuel
Upcoming Events The Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic’s season finale will play two concerts (5/31 and 6/7) that focus on trees. Fifty percent of the proceeds will benefit Trees for the Future. Please visit their http://wmpamusic.org/html/performances/phil.html to learn more. Come visit us at the Go Green Expo in Atlanta Georgia on June 27th and 28th! We have enjoyed our time visiting with people at previous Go Green Expos and look forward to seeing you in Atlanta.
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Washington Art for a Greener Africa: A Silent Art Auction. Artists from the prestigious Jackson Art Center are giving some of their best work to this fundraiser. Saturday May 30th, 2009 from 5pm to 7pm. Fine Arts Center at River Road River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation 6301 River Road, Bethesda, MD 20817
Every month, Trees for the Future sends out an enewsletter. Sign-up by going under “Join the Mailing List” on www.plant-trees.org and entering your email address.
Trees for the Future is part of the Aid forAfrica Federation Our Combined Federal Campaign Number is 10715
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