Planting for the planet.
A gift to mother nature with every purchase.
With every product bought, as a thanks from us to you, we'll donate five presents to the planet in the form of trees. We've selected destinations we feel are needing it most with severe deforestation and fragile ecosystems. Not only does this help combat global warming and restore ecosystems, it also allows us to create more employment to the locals that need it most.
Happy planting, happy planet, happy people.
Currently planting in Antsanitia, Madagascar.
Located 15 Miles north of the regional capital Mahanjanga on the northwest coast of Madagascar, Antsanitia is a vital mangrove estuary which provides an essential habitat for many species of local fish, birds and even crocodiles.
Charcoal producers and tree poachers have targeted the mangrove channel and forest beyond. Over the last 10 years, these threats have had a tremendous impact on the mangrove forest and it is dwindling quickly.
Thanks to our partners at Eden Projects, we've been able to employ locals from the Malagasy community to actively plant native mangrove species to restore the estuary.
Thankfully Malagasy locals and government are strongly opposed to charcoal production and illegal wood harvesting and they support the long-term conservation and restoration of these sites.
Through the employment of locals and the planting of native mangroves, Eden's Madagascar team will work to restore their environment while lifting local communities out of extreme poverty.
Let's grow a forest!
Being a carbon neutral certified company means that we're committed to offsetting at least 100% of our CO2 emissions each year, as well as ever evolving and increasing our sustainability initiatives, we're gonna be planting a shoot load of leafy friends. Our goal is one million trees, can we do it? Well that's up to you guys. From us and all the crew in Madagascar, thanks for all the support team, we love you xx
FAQs
Where do you purchase the seed/saplings from?
Most of our seeds are collected by local villagers from nearby remnant forests. If required to supplement the collected seeds, seeds are purchased from local, trusted seed banks. We never purchase seedlings; we grow our own in our nurseries to ensure quality and germination rates.
What are your planting methods?
The various planting methods we use include: singling or farmer managed natural regeneration, seed balls, seedling nursery, bare root transfers, and mangrove propagule planting. Each nation uses one or more of these methods depending on the species of trees that are native to that given region.
What kind of trees do you plant?
Eden Reforestation Projects plants only native species trees; these vary from nation to nation. We never plant or introduce any invasive species at any of our project sites. We also plant a percentage of agroforestry species for sustainable community use. This prevents the community from going into newly restored forests and provides greater community benefit and involvement in the project.
Are the trees planted on publicly or privately-owned land?
Land rights and authority vary from nation to nation and from planting site to planting site. However, the overwhelming majority of Eden Reforestation Projects’ (Eden) forest restoration projects occur on government-owned land that is under the direct authority of the local community. In contrast, Eden works on smaller scale agroforestry projects (like many of our projects in Haiti). Agroforestry efforts typically occur at sites owned by small scale farmers. The one consistent determining factor within each nation is that Eden has established legal Government Associations and/or Non-Government Organizations, which provide us with authority to operate effectively and in coordination with all the essential Regional and Local governance agencies on crucial determinants.
Who owns the trees?
The vast majority of the trees at Eden Reforestation Project sites are owned by the local communities who actively participated in the restoration of their regional forest during their employment period with Eden. The common (but much smaller exception) is when agroforestry trees are planted at small plot farmer sites where the land is owned by the local farmer. In such cases, the small plot farmer owns the trees along with the proceeds from the trees.
For how long is the land protected and under what agreement?
Thanks to our in-country staff’s hard work, Eden Reforestation Projects has developed deep and respectful relationships within all levels of community and government departments. In every case, Eden Reforestation Projects makes concerted efforts to form and secure written agreements with a clause leading to a perpetual forest. Further, to ensure protection in perpetuity, our funding strategy includes salaries for guards during the extended time period required to hire local villagers who restore the region’s forest. Finally, Eden has also established a guard endowment with the strategic objective of funding site guards after the regional forest is fully restored.
How do you ensure the protection of your trees? How do you know your trees will not be cut down again?
We make every effort to ensure the forest we plant becomes permanent and sustainable. Towards this end we have implemented the following steps:
- We work carefully with all levels of government to secure written agreements designating the restoration sites as protected in perpetuity.
- We do not plant in logging areas. There is never a 100% guarantee that some form of illegal harvest will not occur. However, we do everything within legal limits to ensure the restoration sites are guaranteed to stand in perpetuity.
- We hire local villagers to plant the trees. In this way, we alleviate extreme poverty within the impacted community. The villagers now have an economic incentive to ensure the wellbeing of the restoration project. They also have a sense of “ownership” over the trees and restored forest and they protect it with great care.
- A minimum of 10% of the trees to be planted are agroforestry species (fruit, fodder and construction species designed to provide food security and benefit legitimate human needs). Over time these trees become a source of sustainable income.
- We do all possible to supply the local villagers with alternative fuel sources (fuel-efficient dry wood stoves and solar parabolic stoves), which reduces and/or eliminates their dependence on charcoal.
- We hire forest guards as part of the labor force. We have recently created a Forest Guard Endowment Fund whereby one cent of the price of each tree is put into a fund for long-term guarding and protection of our sites.
- Most significantly, we have seen the villagers fall in love with their forest. They also recognise and benefit from the restored forest through an increase in fisheries, improved farming, cleaner water and the formation of microenterprises.
How do you track the number of trees you have planted and determine survival rate?
The Eden team leaders have developed reliable systems for counting and sorting the number of seedlings produced in the nurseries and/or the number of mangrove propagules collected. After the seedlings and propagules are collected and sorted, they are planted within designated sites.
A percentage of seedling and propagule mortality is inevitable. What we have discovered is mortality becomes irrelevant as natural regeneration begins to occur and begins to multiply impact. At our mangrove sites, natural regeneration typically exceeds 200% of the original number planted. The same is true of the dry deciduous sites in Madagascar, and we already see the same multiplication effect in Nepal.
How do you track the number of trees you have planted and determine survival rate?
The Eden team leaders have developed reliable systems for counting and sorting the number of seedlings produced in the nurseries and/or the number of mangrove propagules collected. After the seedlings and propagules are collected and sorted, they are planted within designated sites.
A percentage of seedling and propagule mortality is inevitable. What we have discovered is mortality becomes irrelevant as natural regeneration begins to occur and begins to multiply impact. At our mangrove sites, natural regeneration typically exceeds 200% of the original number planted. The same is true of the dry deciduous sites in Madagascar, and we already see the same multiplication effect in Nepal.