winter 2008 newsletter
DESCRIPTION
Trees for the Future Winter 2008 Newsletter A quarterly newsletter of Trees for the Future, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people of the world’s poorest communities to begin environmentally beneficial, self-help projects.This newsletter informs readers of recent events, plans, financial mattersand how their support is helping people. Trees for the Future is a Maryland based non-profit that helps communities in the developing world plant beneficial trees. Through seed distribution, agroforestry training, and on-site country programs, we have empowered rural groups to restore tree cover to their lands. Since 1989, we have helped to plant over 60 million trees. Planting trees protects the environment and helps to preserve traditional livelihoods and cultures for generations. For more information visit us at www.plant-trees.orgTRANSCRIPT
Throughout the year, supporters,
partners, and beneficiaries of
Trees for the Future have been
receiving frequent updates about
the phenomenally successful pro-
gram 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
Representative Louis Nkembi, and
his assistant Robin Achah. Ethan
learned a lot during the trip about the specific rural
challenges and possible solutions and he is returning to
the United States with very high expectations for 2009!
Local Rural Challenges
Each province, each district and each community faces
their own unique challenges to improving their liveli-
hoods. A few issues were common throughout most
regions. First, soil fertility and water availability
throughout the three provinces are quickly deteriorat-
ing 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
that their crop yields decrease from year to year and
they are forced to spend lots of money (if they can
afford to) on conventional fertilizers, or they must sim-
ply move into other lands. Second, soil erosion and
landslides are a significant problem, mostly due to
unsustainable hillside agriculture. Third, poor farmers
are looking for new alternatives to bring them econom-
ic benefits to improve their livelihoods.
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 situa-
tions.
Page 1
Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4
The quarterly newsletter of Trees for the FutureWinter 2008 Vol. XVI, No. 4
Cameroon Update: One country, 2000 Farmers, 2 million trees!
continued page 4
Baptiste Mitigan’s farm in the Western Province utilized Acacia Angustissima
and Calliandra spp. along slopes to decrease erosion and increase soil fertility
All this travel lately has
taught me a lot. For exam-
ple, contrary to the prevail-
ing opinion, there is still one
water fountain in Charles De
Gaul Airport near Paris. It’s
on the second floor, near the
men’s room in Terminal 2.
But it doesn’t work. Should
you get thirsty, somebody
there will sell you a small
bottle of Evian for about
three Euros. That’s about five dollars – or about
$40.00 a gallon.
Neither Fedex Field, where the Washington Redskins
play, nor the George Bush Airport in Houston, has any
working water fountains. Both these facilities take it
one step farther: they have security guards that check
to make sure you aren’t smuggling your own water in.
But so far none of the American monopolies has been
able to sufficiently exploit this hold on the world’s
most essential commodity to get anywhere near the
price the French demand.
There are perhaps, in all our lives, times when we
find that the person we are dealing with is at a serious
disadvantage. (Such as a very thirsty traveler in the
Houston airport.) What we do when in a situation like
that is, I believe, pretty much the mark of what sort of
person each of us is: do we push all the harder when
we find the other person unable to push back? Or do
we treat that person as a friend, as we would want to
be treated in such a situation, leaving them some abil-
ity to continue – some self respect. And, in the bargain,
perhaps getting a new friend.
In our work, we increasingly see the effects of what
can only be called “corporate greed”. At one time, that
was mostly clear-cut logging of ancient forests. Over
the years we lost some good friends who tried to
oppose that. Now, as the forests are running out, this
greed has branched into new endeavors: production of
biofuels from corn for our cars has effectively doubled
the price of bread and milk here and around the world.
As local groups began to discover ways to make
organic fuels from non-edible crops, other greedy
businesses have secured lands throughout the
Developing World, have made contractual agreements
Page 2
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.
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 Senegal
STAFF
Dave Deppner - Founder, Executive Director
R. Grace Deppner - Founder, Associate Director
Maryann Manuel - Membership Services
Gorav Seth - Ruppe Center 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
Jennifer Brandt - TREE PALS Coordinator
Gabe Buttram - Business Partner Coordinator
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, Donal Perez - Nicaragua, Danny
Zabala - Philippines, Omar Ndao - Senegal, Kay Howe -
Indonesia
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
WWW.PLANT-TREES.ORG
Opinion:
With Friendship and Respect
that deprive local communities of most of the potential
profits while further devastating these already-degrad-
ed 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 fre-
quently 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 sit-
uation 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
hillside. This puts the upland family at a serious disad-
vantage and so, according to the thinking of the plan-
ners, 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.
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Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4
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.
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.
Producing Green FertilizerIn 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 legumi-
nous, 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 organ-
ic 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 live-
stock for potassium to give them a 20-10-10 (Nitrogen-
phosphorus-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 PlantingMany of the hillsides where agriculture is being
developed remain treeless. Consequently, with each
rain, precious soil is eroded out of their farms and pol-
lutes their water systems. Even worse, it is not unusu-
al for a farmer to visit his field after a
heavy rain to see his entire livelihood
washed away in a landslide. The land-
slides 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 EconomicActivities.
Amongst the most valuable compo-
nents 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 contribu-
tions 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 devel-
oped into a model for many of our programs through-
out Africa and the rest of the world!
Cameroon Update (continued from page 1)
Ethan and Louis meeting with farmers in the Bana Agroforestry
Network
Page 4
Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4
Screenshot from Google Earth
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, mak-
ing 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 accom-
plishing 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!
Page 5
Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4
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 spo-
ken 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, diver-
sifying 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 poten-
tial 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 São 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 sup-
port of this program.
Brazil: A New Program Makes Great Strides
After-school Moringa project with students will help
improve nutrition in the local community
These seedlings will be used to create a forest garden
in Oriente
Page 6
Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4
In 2008, Trees for the Future had the incredible oppor-
tunity to participate in a program to promote peace and
prosperity through the planting of trees. Burundi has
the unfortunate distinction as being
one of the most impoverished and
environmentally devastated coun-
tries in Africa. Over 20 years of
ethnic conflicts between Hutus and
Tutsis has left much of the land
degraded, the economy shattered,
and development halted. More
than half of the population suffers
from malnutrition-- Add to that the
devastation from an AIDS epidem-
ic which has left half the popula-
tion under the age of 15! Recently,
thanks to a state of relative stabili-
ty, we have had the opportunity to
develop our program with the help of local partners in
Washington and Burundi.
Jean Bosco Hakizimana, founder of Hope for
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 con-
flict 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
working with both Hutus and Tutsis, who are plant-
ing trees side-by-side in peace. The staff of Hope
for Burundi are half Hutus and half Tutsis, and Jean
is using this opportunity to teach participants about
peaceful communication.
This year has proved to be a huge success in Burundi.
It is important to note that none of
this would have been possible
without the financial and organiza-
tional support of Church of the
Redeemer in Bethesda, Maryland,
where Jean served as a Pastor.
In November, East Africa
Coordinator, David Tye, visited
Hope for Burundi’s program.
David held a workshop and trained
Jean and his local partners on new
agroforestry techniques. In addi-
tion, they discussed how to
improve the program for 2009.
Building upon the incredible suc-
cess achieved this year, Jean is looking to expand his
program into 5 provinces and plant ONE MILLION
trees with 100,000 participants in 2009!
Planting Trees for Peace in Burundi
Page 7
Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4
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 working
with both Hutus and Tutsis,
who are planting trees side-
by-side in peace.
The First Meeting: Hope for Burundi Founder Jean Bosco,
TREES Program Coordinator Ethan Budiansky, and Jane
Coe from the Church of the Redeemer meeting for the first
time in the spring of 2008 at TREES Silver Spring Office
In early November, Grace, Dave and Francis Deppner
were in Addis Ababa attending a dinner at the National
Palace at the invitation of Ethiopia’s President Girma
Waldogeorgis. TREES was honored for our part in
planting 18 million trees there over the past eight
years.
Also honored was Ethiopian Airlines, which has
become the World’s FIRST GREEN AIRLINE by
planting one tree for each of its passengers in 2008 –
with the promise to double this in the year ahead. The
president, himself an
ardent environmentalist
and elected twice now on
the Green Party ticket,
received an award for his
vision and support in keep-
ing this tree program grow-
ing.
It should be mentioned
that among those receiving
recognition was Hayatti
Shamil, who is one of the
field technicians develop-
ing an extension program
for the villages of the
Guraghe Zone. Himself a
farmer in that community,
he well understands the
hard life that past defor-
estation forced on local
families. He has become
most enthusiastic about the
practical ideas he and other
technicians are developing.
Ideas such as repairing
deep gullies formed by a
combination of over-graz-
ing and heavy rains. Planting trees and vetiver grass,
they are turning these reclaimed areas into intensive
forage systems as an alternative to the very damaging
open grazing of the past.
A part of the president’s vision is to return the devas-
tated uplands of Ethiopia to their former reputation as
the “Water Tower of Africa” by restoring forests and
life to these thousands of watersheds, giving Ethiopia
the ability to market clean hydro-electric power in the
Horn of Africa and to Egypt and the Sudan.
TREES and our local partner, Greener Ethiopia (GE),
had discussed this with the President over the past year.
Already, hydroelectric dams are under construction but
the President recognizes one fact that earlier program
planners failed to understand: that unless forest cover
is restored and maintained on these fragile uplands, the
reservoirs will quickly silt up and then the only prod-
uct will be mud.
This erosion threat is already obvious along the many
large rivers leaving Ethiopia. In the past, TREES plant-
ed many thousands of trees
in Somalia, along the fer-
tile land formed between
the Jubba and Shebeli
Rivers, in the rich thick
topsoil, often 10 meters
deep, that the Somalis call
“the red gold of Ethiopia”.
GE and TREES are
already planning an expan-
sion of the present project,
which is reforesting the
Rebu and Wabe Rivers, to
the Gibe River some 70
km. to the south. Another
major effort now being
planned is the watershed of
Lake Tana, near Gondor,
about 350 Km. to the
northwest of Addis Ababa.
This massive lake becomes
a powerful waterfall, which
Ethiopians call “the water
that smokes”.
This is the beginning of
the Blue Nile River which
produces about 86% of all
the water in the Nile system. It is a matter of great
international concern because the Nile travels through
nine countries. More than 120 million people in Egypt
alone depend on the Nile for their very survival. And
the flow of this great river has been falling by 1% each
year for the past ten years. Lake Tana at one starting
point and Lake Victoria at the other both are in need of
much attention.
To reforest even 20% of the Lake Tana watershed
would require the planting of more than 80 million
Page 8
Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4
A Hundred Million Trees!
Living fences intercropped with three species
(Grevillea, Leucaena and Sesbania) are becoming very
popular. The Grevillea is a fast-grower, with 9” diame-
ter trunks in only five years, and looks to become an
acceptable substitute for Eucalyptus trees.
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 diver-
sity. 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 fast-
growing, 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,
and elsewhere, to be talking about “a hundred
million trees in five years”. These past few
years have proven that the highly diverse peo-
ples 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.
Page 9
Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4
Grevillea Robusta trees planted for bee forage and protection
from damaging winds
A traditional bee hive is compared to the modern design which
farmers are being trained to construct in this program by
Greener Ethiopia. Integrating honey production with shade-
grown coffee is increasing coffee production by as much as 60%.
A young Forest Garden in Ethiopia
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 com-
munity-based associations.. TREES is well pre-
pared to engage in larger tree projects during the
coming year, as we leverage our strong local pres-
ence 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 con-
cern about the sustainable management of their nat-
ural resources. This hope would not show up with-
out your support!
In July 2008 TREES Haiti program Advisor, Mr.
Franz Stuppard, and the Africa and Caribbean pro-
gram coordinator, Mr. Ethan Budiansky, brought
Timote Georges on board as TREES field represen-
tative 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.
Tree Planting and Agroforestry in the coastal zone
From October to November 2008 TREES worked on
tree planting project with two communities in the hill-
side 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
with branches or tree trunks.
Farmers are now altering these fences to live fencing
which is an appropriate agro-forestry technology that,
when properly designed, can provide sustained long
term benefits to participants. During this work in
Arcahaie about 10.000 trees were planted out in the
hillside of Delice, mostly for live fencing technology.
The work and support that TREES has provided in
Haiti has offered new perspectives on the solution to
deforestation. Namely, people are happy that the phi-
losophy of "the sense of responsibility at the commu-
nity level" has infiltrated reforestation efforts after
many years. This may be the
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 com-
munities calling for help in their reforestation endeav-
ors. TREES intends to help these individuals in their
efforts to reclaim their livelihoods.
Looking forward to 2009
In 2009 approximately one million trees, primarily
multi-purpose and fast-growing species (MPFG), will
be out planted to restore hundreds of hectares of life-
less land on the mountainous side of the Arcadine
coast. Furthermore, TREES will be opening a local
office in this area, where currently local NGOs, offi-
cials, school children and over ten community-repre-
sentatives from St. Marc to Bethel are waiting to par-
ticipate in the 2009 program. Expectations for great
success are higher than ever. Many thanks for support-
ing Trees for the Future's program in Haiti.
-Timote Georges, Haiti field representative
Taking a break during a training session in Leogane
Page 10
Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4
Greetings from Haiti
Farmers in Arcahaie planting trees for live fencing Nursery being established in Delice
Forest Garden Project in Belize
This November TREES Central America project coordi-
nator, Joshua Bogart, Traveled to Belize. The first stop on
his trip to oversee new projects in Belize was a forest gar-
den 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 commu-
nity members in rural southern Belizean communities
(mostly of Ketchi and Mopan Mayan decent), as well as
creating economic development from sales of excess pro-
duction.
In this workshop, Joshua taught about integrated pest
management and integrated fertility management using
nitrogen fixing trees and shrubs. Also taught were oppor-
tunities for using live Nitrogen fixing trees such as
Gliricidia sepium as living trellises for vine crops, and liv-
ing 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
and support from TREES FOR THE FUTURE and
Ya’axche staff.
Joshua Bogart teaching Forest Garden workshop
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Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4
David Tye, TREES East Africa Regional Coordinator,
moved to Moshi, Tanzania this August to set up our
TREES East Africa Regional Office. Over the past 3
months, he has spent almost all of his time working
with organizations in the field to prepare for the
upcoming nursery season. Soon we hope that he will
have some time to get to
know his new home town.
During a recent trip to
Uganda, David conducted
training sessions with two
local Ugandan Organizations.
On November 6, 2008, Trees
for the Future, along with the
Agency for Environment and
Wetlands (AEW), sponsored
a one-day workshop on
Agroforestry and
Permaculture at Makerere
University in Kampala. The
participants at the workshop
included approximately 90
Environmental Management
Students from the University.
The workshop was organized
by David Ssemwogerere, the
Executive Director of AEW
with the assistance of David
Tye of TREES and Yvette Ampaire of AEW.
David Tye taught the basic theories and ideas behind
agroforestry focusing on many of the concepts
described in the TREES Agroforestry Training
Manual. He focused on different agroforestry systems,
such as windbreaks, live fences, alley cropping, and
rotational fallow. He also discussed in detail livestock
management, terracing and composting. The students
showed extensive interest and substantial skepticism of
the Forest Garden concept, as they asked dozens of
questions about the details and viability of the Forest
Garden concept. David took time to respond to numer-
ous questions raised by the participants to ensure that
the ideas and techniques in agroforestry were under-
stood.
Yvette Ampaire of AEW, who assisted David Tye in
the workshop, discussed in detail the concepts behind
fuel-efficient stoves, highlighting the benefits of such
stoves in reducing fuel wood requirements of house-
holds. This reduction in fuel
wood needs at the household level helps to greatly
reduce deforestation, and reduces the work load of
women and children in rural communities. Many stu-
dents were skeptical of the benefits of such stoves;
however Yvette was patient in her explanations and
convinced most students of the benefits of fuel-effi-
cient stoves. She challenged
each of the 90 participants to
construct a fuel-efficient
stove in the homes.
The Agency for
Environment and Wetlands
(AEW) is a Ugandan NGO
that focuses on environmental
education and sustainable
environmental management.
AEW works with university
student volunteers to visit pri-
mary and secondary schools
throughout Uganda to teach
the importance of maintaining
the environment and tree
planting.
David Tye also conducted a
two-day seminar with the
Ugandan Scouts on
November 8 – 9, 2008 at
Kaazi, the Ugandan National
Scout Camp, south of Kampala. The participants
included 25 Scout Leaders and Scout Youths from
three districts close to Kampala. The two-day seminar
was organized by National Scout Officials, Mathius
Lumbuko and Richard Ssali, and by David Tye of
TREES. Trees for the Future funded the two-day sem-
inar, while The Ugandan Scouts provided the accom-
modations at Kaazi Scout Camp for free.
The first day of the seminar included agroforestry the-
ory and concepts, focusing on the various benefits of
tree planting and using trees in an agricultural system.
David Tye extensively discussed alley cropping, wind-
breaks, and the Forest Garden concept, and the types of
tree species that can be included in each system. David
discussed the benefits of Leucaena, Calliandra
calothyrsus, Sesbania sesban, Senna siamea, Gliricidia
sepium, Albizia lebbeck, and Faidherbia albida and
how each species can be used in different agroforestry
systems.
The second part of the seminar
David Tye teaching how to make a seedbed to
Ugandan Scouts in Kampala
Update from East Africa
Page 12
Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4
The Green Festival, an annual event since 2001, is the
largest sustainability event in the world. It is a celebra-
tion and exhibition of all things green, sustainable and
environmentally friendly. TREES has been participat-
ing in Green Festivals across America since 2003, with
the goal of increasing public awareness about serious
environmental and social issues, and how tree planting
can help solve some critical problems.
This year TFTF had a booth at the Washington, DC
festival as well as the San Francisco festival. The
Washington event was attended by over 36,000 people,
and Trees for the Future was one of approximately 400
exhibitors. We spent two days talking with the thou-
sands of festival-goers about our organization and the
benefits of planting trees.
The San Francisco Green Festival was only one week
after the Washington event. We were very excited to
be in San Francisco again and to have the opportunity
to connect with our many friends on the West Coast.
While three days of standing on our feet and educating
people about our mission was tiring, it was also a lot of
fun and highly successful.
In the days leading up to the S.F. Green Festival, we
also attended the San Francisco Green Business
Conference for the first time. This event brings togeth-
er businesses from across the country to hear stories
from green business leaders, share ideas, make connec-
tions, and develop models for success in the emerging
green marketplace.
It was inspirational and energizing to see so many
businesses that are passionate about our Earth and
motivated to meet the global challenges we are facing.
With creative, fresh ideas, these businesses are facing
the economic downturn with innovative, forward-look-
ing business models designed to spur responsible and
sustainable growth. On top of meeting so many fantas-
tic people, this was a great opportunity for us to make
connections with more green business leaders that are
interested in partnering with Trees for the Future to
plant trees across the developing world.
We would like to thank everyone who came out to the
festivals and business conference this year. This was
the biggest showing to date, and we certainly hope and
expect that the trend continues. In particular, we would
like to thank all of you who stopped by our booth or
table to chat and to learn more about our work. With
your help, we will continue to spread the word and the
work of tree-planting and Trees for the Future!
The Green Festivals and The Green Business Conference
Page 13
Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4
focused on establishing a tree nursery, so that each of the par-
ticipants will be able to manage their own nursery from which
to teach other Scouts. David explained and demonstrated pre-
treatment 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) poly-
thene 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
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 leuco-
cephala, or Markhamia lutea for establishing their own tree nurseries from which to facilitate additional train-
ings.
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 plant-
ing and help ensure sustainability for years to come.
Trees for the Future’s East Africa Regional
Office in Moshi, Tanzania
Page 14
Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4
Hi, I’m Jenny Brandt and I am going to be coordinat-
ing 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 recruit-
ing 200 schools from those six countries along with 200 American schools which will be connected through cor-
respondence 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
Introducing Jenny Brandt
Jenny studied English at the University of Hawaii atManoa, where the campus is also an arboretum (and isa great place to learn about tropical trees). Afterwatching An Inconvenient Truth; she applied for aninternship with a carbon offset company to learn moreabout how to help fight climate change. They sent herto Nicaragua to see how reforestation projects benefitlocal communities, ecosystems, and sequester carbonfrom the global atmosphere. She came home speakingmuch better Spanish, and she soon found Trees for theFuture.
Pictures from 2008
Page 15
Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVI, No. 4
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
Families in Honduras showing MPFG tree seed pro-
vided by TREES
A Tree Pals student in Ethiopia with a seedling
Mlava community tree nursery in Kakamega, Kenya
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Loret Miller Ruppe Center
P.O. Box 7027
Silver Spring, Maryland 20907
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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.