Trees for All supports the EthioTrees project to help communities make the switch to agroforestry. This is a sustainable alternative to traditional farming and contributes towards fertile soil and greater guarantee of food.
tree planting
hectares of land
farmers support
tonnes of CO2
planting period
The lack of fertile ground is a huge challenge in Tigray. Centuries of intensive farming have left the soil drier and drier and vulnerable to erosion. What is more, for agriculture people strongly depend on rain. Precipitation becomes ever more unpredictable as a result of climate change, such as increasing drought.
Because of the combination of degraded grounds and vulnerability towards climate change, people are strongly dependent on imported food. Add to this that in 2022 – 2022 the region was hit by civil war, one of the worst humanitarian disasters of our time. For a long time, Tigray was cut off from the outside world, which caused gigantic food scarcity.
Climate change, drought or future conflicts cannot be erased in the wink of an eye. But it is possible to make people in the region more efficient towards such circumstances. How? By enabling them to produce their own food in sustainable ways. And that is exactly what can be done by supporting the EthioTrees project!
Project participants of EthioTrees. They are seen among the newly planted young trees, which are protected from the sun by twigs.
From the EthioTrees project we help communities make the switch to agroforestry: a combination of forestry and agriculture. The people plant trees which belong in this region, interspersed with various types of crops which render food, such as corn, sorghum and teff.
Agroforestry is a sustainable alternative for conventional farming only one single crop, or just a few. This method offers several advantages for climate, biodiversity and people:
The trees provide strong and fertile soil, which stores water in a better way, keeping the soil together, as it were. The risk of erosion decreases and water becomes more readily available.
The certainty of food increases. Because communities grow several types of crop, their harvest is more diverse and their income more stable. Is one crop having a hard time? There are enough other crops to take its place. The availability of food makes communities less dependent on imported food. This way they are much more self-sufficient in good times and in bad times.
Apart from the crops, the trees also give several products. In the near future people will literally pick the fruit off orange and mango trees. The leaves of Moringa trees are excellent tea material. Foliage will serve for fodder and prunings for fuel.
Trees and crops provide shade and cooling: their contribution to a favorable micro-climate and the fight against drought.
Trees and crops absorb CO2. Their way of contributing to a better climate and countering further global warming.
Baby trees grow in local nurseries until they are tall enough to be planted.
The switch to agroforestry is part of the EthioTrees project, started as early as 2016. In that year, participating villages in Tigray began restoring pieces of communal land (exclosures) in order to get nature going again. In those exclosures, farming and grazing are not allowed. Besides, communities dug infiltration ditches in them and planted trees. The result was that nature recovers little by little.
Additionally, participants would like very much to set up agroforestry: an age-old tradition in the area. For many people, it was financially difficult to invest in trees, partly as a result of the war. They needed more technical knowhow as well. CO2 donations received by Trees for All enable us to get participants going in agroforestry during the next few years. A valuable addition to restoring nature, as set in motion by the various communities!
Communities show their enclosures (right): due to all efforts, nature is definitely reviving here.
The project is situated in Tembien Highlands, in the central zone of Tigray, Ethiopia. Communities themselves plant the trees and crops, on land close to home. It involves indigenous and regional trees, such as mango, ziziphus, moringa, cordia and acacia.
Within this project we co-operate with t Climate Lab en EthioTrees. Climate Lab is a social enterprise from Gent, Belgium; among other things they are responsible for project certification by Plan Vivo. EthioTrees is a local association, responsible for realizing the project. In total, they employ eleven Ethiopian people, five of whom target on agroforestry. They help farmers on their way by means of knowhow and practical support.
As a Trees for All beneficiary, you compensate for your CO2 emission via this project. We use the donations to involve even more farmers into the project and guarantee their extra incomes for ten years after planting trees. For this purpose, the project was certified by Plan Vivo, an international standard for CO2 compensation. Among other things, this certification guarantees that the trees planted will actually absorb the quantity of CO2 emitted.
