India, Kenya, and Uganda

Community Tree Planting

Helping small communities replant trees so they can counter the effects of poverty, deforestation, and harmful carbon emissions.

Greenhouse Gasses
Reduced:

CO₂

Carbon Dioxide

Solutions Number 15, 17 and 62 in Drawdown – Afforestation, Tree Intercropping and Women Smallholders

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What it does

The International Small Group and Tree Planting Program (TIST) is a combined reforestation and sustainable development project. The project works with small groups of poor farmers to replant trees which counters the devastating effects of deforestation, poverty and drought. Since TIST’s inception in 1999, they have helped plant over 18 million trees in Tanzania, India, Kenya, and Uganda.

How it works

TIST members are subsistence farmers and participate voluntarily. As a grassroots initiative, the farmers form small groups of 6 to 12 farmers. They are provided access to training that allows them to build on their own best practices which are then shared with the other 9,000 groups. These small groups benefit from a new income source: the sale of carbon credits that result from the sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere in the biomass of the trees and soil. This program incentivizes other individuals to join causing more carbon to be sequestered.

Benefits

Reforestation and careful monitoring of tree survival and health
Increased crop yields that provide food security
Diverse crops such as fruit and nuts that provide food security or products for sale
Trees provide shade for crops and fodder for livestock
Local technology training
Leadership training
Opportunities for promotion of gender equality
Training on local health issues.

Challenges

Pests could move into the newly established area and destroy trees
The local population may move into the lands for illegal grazing or cutting of trees
Increasing drought could affect projected tree growth

Who it helps

The sale of carbon credits provides income for participants and funding to address agricultural, HIV/AIDS, nutritional and fuel challenges for local communities.

Why we chose this project

This project has an active GPS based, on the ground monitoring program which enables independent tracking of the trees planted in each plot. This enables ‘absolute transparency’ into the field operations. The project has been utilizing computer based data collection since 2004. By sharing profits with local farmers, this project helps to raise the living standard of the rural population as well as creates a healthier, more productive environment for them.