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Plants Protected
Sponsors are invoiced (with VAT) for their contribution and can therefore benefit from a personalised webpage on our website.
Donors make a charitable gift that can be tax deductible. Donor logos can be featured on our website, but donors don’t receive a personalised webpage.
You can donate from anywhere your donations will, however, only be tax-deductible in some countries.
We focus on restoration costs per hectare, so the price per tree is calculated by dividing this cost by the target density of trees we want to achieve. For example, $5 000 per hectare and a target density of 2 000 trees would equal a tree price of $2.5. On average the cost of a tree varies between $0.90 and $2.9, depending on the restoration technique and the location.
The cost is influenced by the different restoration techniques (e.g. framework planting versus assisted natural regeneration), the accompanying programmes such as developing forest-friendly livelihoods (e.g. beekeeping), as well as the local conditions and economy in the country.
Our income includes funding from sponsorships and donations. For every dollar of our income since 2019, 80% has been spent in the field: growing the seedlings, planting the trees, training local communities for long-term forest protection and developing local alternatives to forests and trees as the communities’ main income. 15% for ReforesTrees overheads pays salaries for headquarters-based staff that support funders and grow the cause, as well as the pipeline for new projects. 5% for specialist support has included expertise in livelihood programme design. 4% has funded research such as the installation of flux towers that provide insights into the interaction of new forests with the water cycle. The remaining 13% has established reserves like the Tree Guarantee Fund that can establish a ‘buffer’ in case of fire or drought, or release funds for repairing sites that have suffered such events.
As a partner you have immediate access to pictures, videos and content for your own communications. New material is sent regularly throughout the year while you remain an active partner.
Trees are a unique way to celebrate somebody you love. Anyone can donate for trees via Reforest Trees, or contact us at [email protected]. We will issue a certificate for you, should you need one for a gift.
We receive many requests for visits and if you can visit our reforestation area of our projects.
Reforest Trees does not buy land. Many of our forests are on community land, some are on state land, and others are on private land. We sign agreements to secure the long-term protection of the land.
What matters is the long-term survival of the trees, so we engage and train local farmers who earn a stable income from the project and make them stewards of their new forest.
Women are still responsible for household work in many countries. In places where forests are degraded, they often spend many hours every day collecting fuelwood, water and other forest products such as mushrooms and nuts. This makes them the primary users of forest resources. Nevertheless, women are often excluded from forest management, decision making and access to resources, as in many countries, forestry is perceived as being ‘men’s business’.
Successful forest restoration requires women to be involved in the design and development of activities. We ensure that we organise meetings at times that are suitable to their busy schedules, directly engage with them in meetings, and organise separate meetings if needed so that they feel comfortable to express themselves.
Improving forest management for better growth and health of trees means pruning, which can deliver reliable supplies of firewood closer to home, and results in more resources such as mushrooms that can be collected and sold.
By increasing forest-friendly incomes, we can reduce the pressure on forests. Income-generating activities such as beekeeping are primarily male-dominated, and female-headed households in our programmes have a preference for egg production and sheep rearing that can generate a more regular or substantial income. We also promote more sustainable food production practices such as agroforestry and conservation agriculture, which increase yields. Vegetable gardening for subsistence – and feeding families – is often the responsibility of women, and directly impacts health, nutrition and income.
Forests vary widely in the amount of carbon they store. The main factors that determine carbon storage are climate, tree species composition and disturbance history. The estimated carbon storage potential of our forests after 20-30 years of restoration ranges between 140 to 317 t CO2 per hectare.
Different tree species grow and sequester CO2 at different rates. However, focusing only on fast-growing species alone is not the best approach. No natural forest is made up of just one species, and our goal is to restore them as much as possible to a ‘natural’ state. A forest is not just for storing carbon: biodiversity and people and animals that depend on forests need a diversity of species.
A recent study found that, considering the current Bonn Challenge pledges for restoration, the best strategy by far to store the most carbon by 2100 would be to focus on natural forest restoration and protection – because on average, natural forests are six times better than agroforestry and 40 times better than plantations at storing carbon.
We estimate carbon sequestration across a hectare of forest with all its species diversity.
The latest FAO assessment of global forest resources estimates that, since 2015, ten million hectares a year of forest cover was lost and five million hectares of forest cover was gained. Over the period 1990 to 2020 the rate of global forest loss has declined, but still far outweighs forest gain.
There are several things you can do:
If your company is carbon neutral, you’re balancing out your carbon emissions into the atmosphere by removing them elsewhere, usually by purchasing carbon offsets or credits to make up the difference. Carbon neutral doesn’t necessarily mean you have reduced your emissions (which should be the first priority).
A climate neutral company or product is neutral in all greenhouse gas emissions, not just carbon carbon dioxide: also methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3). As with carbon neutral, this name doesn’t necessarily mean you have reduced your emissions (which should be the first priority).
Net Zero means not putting any more carbon into the atmosphere than you’re taking out. Net Zero companies find ways to reduce their own emissions first; they also have a wider scope of the emissions they count in all steps on the supply chain. This includes the most difficult ‘scope 3’, like the emissions from growing the cocoa that ends up in your chocolate, and even employee commutes – and sometimes even the ongoing emissions of the products they sell. You can’t offset your way out of Net Zero.
Trees compensate for greenhouse gas emissions over time by drawing down carbon dioxide as they grow. The best carbon is carbon that is never emitted, so we encourage every company to reduce and avoid emissions before choosing to compensate. If you do need to claim immediate carbon neutrality, though, we offer carbon credits from certified forest restoration or conservation projects where the trees are already growing, so the CO2 has already been saved.