Save the Forests
SAVE THE FORESTS
Your Support
is important
One Guest – One Tree Planted
We created a brand new project whose goal is to plant a tree for every guest of tourist facilities such as hotels, resorts, B&Bs, campsites, etc.
Why are forests so important?
Download and read our report on the importance of forests and the problem of deforestation.
Not travelling?
Click here to Plant your Tree and support the reforestation project from afar.
Tree Planting Locations: Where Are We Planting
Central Africa
The trees are planted in any of the following countries: Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, or Kenya.
This specific project is in collaboration with Trees for the Future.
Find out how many trees we have planted in collaboration with them.
It is estimated that 1,000 trees absorb about roughly 36 Metric Tonnes of CO2 over 20 years, contributing to the fight against climate change.
Dozens of people from local communities are involved in planting and monitoring efforts, earning compensation for their valuable contributions.
Indonesia
Based in Semarang (Central Java), this project improves biodiversity, the environment and the lives of farmers in local communities through tree planting and education. Community forestry is used in this project, which is recognised as a key strategy to promote Sustainable Forest management and reduce poverty in rural areas of developing countries. Tens of thousands of local families have been involved in this project.
These are the species we are planting:
– Toona sureni
– Parkia speciosa
– Syzygium aromaticum
– Tectona grandis
The goal is to plant around 25,000 of the above-mentioned trees.
Find out more about the forest we are creating here.
Find out who adhered
Campaign
Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) is defined as “the stewardship and use of forests and forest lands in a way, and at a rate, that maintains their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality, and their potential to fulfill, now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic and social functions, at local, national, and global levels, and that does not cause damage to other ecosystems” (Forest Europe 2016; Mackey et al. 2015).
The Problem
Trends in the proportion of land area under forests is used as one of the indicators for the Millennium Development Goals (United Nations, 2008).
We are losing forests at a rate of 27 football fields a minute. That is a startling number. But the biggest problem for the world’s forests is not the outright clearing of forests, known as deforestation. It is degradation. Degraded forests are a problem, as they reduce their efficiency in keeping air and water clean, in providing wildlife with shelter and food, or in capturing carbon.
Key drivers for the loss of biodiversity and changes to forest ecosystems are:
- Land-use change, especially through agriculture expansion, is the most destructive driver for the loss of the natural world on land, followed by the extraction and overexploitation of species like timber harvests and hunting.
The indirect drivers which are driving an unprecedented rate of global change in nature are:
- Growing human population
- Global economy
- Trade driving demand for energy and materials
- The wrong economic incentives with insufficient recognition of the values of ecosystem functions.
Environmental Consequences
The decades of exploitation have destroyed and degraded much of the Earth’s natural forests. We’ve already lost half of our forested land globally. Across the planet from the Amazon to Canada and Indonesia large areas are being degraded, due in large part to unsustainable industrial activities.
The United Nations biodiversity report warns that most of the global 2020 targets for the protection of nature outlined in the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity (Aichi biodiversity targets) will not be met, undermining half of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Possible Solutions
Conservation of forest ecosystems can be approached in many ways. The possible solutions are categorized in three ways through which forest conservation can be achieved from a local to a global level:
- Through the recovery and promotion of knowledge and traditional methodologies,
- Through conservation and protected areas,
- Through governmental initiatives.
WSF Activities and initiatives
Friends of Usambara – Tanzania
The World Sustainability Foundation, through its Friend of the Earth project, is starting a new collaboration with Friends of Usambara Society to support reforestation and community-based forest restoration in the Usambara Mountains of northern Tanzania.
Friends of Usambara combines tree nurseries, tree planting, agroforestry, environmental education, and sustainable tourism to help protect the natural heritage of the Usambara Mountains while creating concrete opportunities for local communities.
Our joint initiative will contribute to the planting and care of trees in priority areas identified together with local partners. The project aims to restore degraded land, strengthen biodiversity and climate resilience, protect water resources, and promote sustainable land-use practices that can benefit local families over the long term.
By supporting this initiative, companies, travellers and donors can help grow new forests in Tanzania and contribute to the protection of one of East Africa’s most valuable natural landscapes, with local communities at the heart of conservation.
Trees for the Future
The World Sustainability Foundation financially supports the American nonprofit Trees for the Future, which works with thousands of farming families in nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and the nonprofit Tree Nation for an agro-reforestation project on the island of Java, Indonesia.
Overall, we have helped reforest thousands of trees, engaging dozens of people from local communities and providing crucial habitats for animal and plant species, thus promoting biodiversity conservation and CO2 absorption.
How to Participate
- If you’re not traveling, you can still plant a tree online to support the project remotely.
- Tourism facilities are invited to participate in the “1 Guest – 1 Tree Planted” project.
- Local communities are involved in planting and monitoring the trees, receiving compensation for their work.
