Trees journal 2010 volume 67

t ees Free to ITF supporters

Journal of the International Tree Foundation

Volume 68 January/February 2010

Global greening Why trees are top of the list for climate targets

Join the family One group tells why it has become an ITF affiliate tree success in mali essex orchards the Prince's Rainforest project the quest for the desert cypress

Planting, protecting and promoting trees worldwide

Our planet needs your support

Now’s the time to help the International Tree Foundation Climate change is one of the planet’s biggest problems – and trees are part of the solution. By supporting the International Tree Foundation you help us fund simple, sustainable schemes across the world where trees are protecting the environment and preserving livelihoods.

Some examples of how your money could be used:

As a supporter, your contribution will help all of this happen. We will also plant a tree in the UK on your behalf when you join us. You will also receive regular updates on news and events and become part of a growing network of people who are all working for a greener, safer future.

■ £5 pays for two trees in Malawi, or 500 seeds in Uganda.

■ £25 pays for two saplings in the UK, or ten saplings in Africa.

■ £50 pays for two hours radio airtime in Ethiopia spreading the word about deforestation.

Help us right now by completing the tear-off slip and posting to: The International Tree Foundation, Sandy Lane, Crawley Down, West Sussex RH10 4HS To find out more visit www.internationaltreefoundation.org

■ £250 pays for sustainable forestry training for three Congolese farmers.

Supporter rates ■ Single adult/double adult: £25/£35 ■ Family supporter (two adults and all children under 15 at the same address): £30 ■ Concession rate (student or senior citizen): £20 ■ Concession rate (double senior citizen): £25 ■ Overseas single/double: £35/£40 ■ Life single/double: £500/£750 Name/s: Address: Postcode: Email address: Tel no: I enclose a cheque payable to the International Tree Foundation for £ Gift aid means that we can reclaim tax on this and any future subscriptions/donations at no cost to you. To enable us to reclaim this, please sign and date below. Thank you.

Signature:

2 | trees | Winter 2009

Date:

CONTENTS

281

Peter Bunyard ave the on treesSan imate Whale d cl Wege ek chan Patron His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales Founder Dr Richard St Barbe Baker OBE President Sir Ghilean Prance Vice Presidents Cynthia Campbell Savours Professor Julian Evans E Green MBE Susan Hampshire Sir Bernard de Hoghton, BT, DL Satish Kumar The Earl of Lindsay W E Matthews OBE Trustees Terence Bermingham David H Gore Kenton Rogers Bland Tomkinson Chairman Spencer G Keys Director Lorraine Dunk Staff Joanne George Sarah Leeming Carol Morais Elisa Murray Trees is published annually by the International Tree Foundation, a registered charity (no 1106269).

The opinions expressed in it do not necessarily reflect ITF policy, and ITF does not hold itself responsible for any of those opinions.

Editor Clare Harris Executive editor Malcolm Tait Sub editor Andrew Littlefield Design Matthew Ball Publisher John Innes

IN this issue

WELCOME Lorraine Dunk, Director

Front cover African Landscape, Shutterstock International Tree Foundation, Sandy Lane, Crawley Down, West Sussex RH10 4HS, UK Tel 01342 717300 Fax 01342 718282

One of the most inspiring things about this job is the chance to follow in the footsteps of our founder, Richard St Barbe Baker. It’s wonderful to hear how many people cite him as an inspiration for the work they do, such as International Tree Foundation trustee Kenton Rogers, who describes his journey in St Barbe’s steps to track down the mysterious Saharan Cypress on page 14.

On page 19, the volunteers at Essex’s Forest Farm Peace Garden have St Barbe in mind as they plant a new orchard that will provide a harvest of wonderful, organic fruit.

But it is St Barbe’s understanding of the role trees and forests play in preventing climate change that is more pertinent today than ever. As we emerge from the Copenhagen climate talks, The Ecologist’s Peter Bunyard describes the potential for global initiatives to get trees working for our climate again, on page 8.

He’s joined by Tony Juniper, special adviser to our patron HRH The Prince of Wales on the Prince’s Rainforest Project. Tony gives us an update on page 12, and on page 20, we hear how work with the Barahongo community in Mali has helped local farmers take their own steps to sustainable reforestation.

There’s never been a more pressing time to take action for the world’s trees. As a supporter of ITF you can help communities to plant and manage trees that will give them sustenance, income and shelter – but will also tackle climate change. And what could be more inspiring than that?

info@internationaltreefoundation.org www.internationaltreefoundation.org

4 Year in Focus Updates from International Tree Foundation projects and partners around the world 8 The Big Issue The Ecologist’s Peter Bunyard on how trees can help meet targets on climate change 11 SPOTLIGHT A closer look at the acacia 12 Calling SOS Tony Juniper updates us on HRH The Prince of Wales’ Rainforest Project 14 ITF People Kenton Rogers on his quest to find the Saharan cypress 16 Gallery The mighty baobab 18 Under the Canopy Trees for Cities 19 Project focus Getting to know the people behind some of our most recently funded projects 22 REVIEWS We review some of the year’s top books and DVDs 23 One of us Introducing ITF’s newest affiliate plus a story from the archives

This issue’s contributors Kenton Rogers Kenton is a forester and a trustee of the International Tree Foundation. He talks about his research work in Algeria

Peter Bunyard Peter is a founding editor of The Ecologist magazine. He writes about the science of reforestation and climate change

Tony Juniper Tony is former head of international NGO Friends of the Earth and is now a special adviser to the Prince’s Rainforest Project

Volume 68 | trees | 3

YEAR IN FOCUS

Trees help Darfur fight back

Trees can provide vital shade

In the dry regions of Northern Darfur, the sustainable development charity Kids for Kids has been working since 2001 to help provide local villages with ways of securing their livelihoods in the face of drought and conflict. The charity recently began work with the International Tree Foundation to start a treeplanting scheme, which has since spread to five villages in the region. The first

Doorto-door seedlings This year has been a busy one for the Bale Beauty Nature Club (BBNC), based in Ethiopia’s Bale Mountain National Park. The region’s magnificent forests are in danger, due in part to a lack of cultivation of native species. The BBNC has therefore been busy distributing 30,000 native seedlings to local communities through a network of schools. The seedlings were planted with the support of the International Tree Foundation and work is now under way to create an information centre for local people and visitors to the National Park.

4 | trees | Volume 68

community forest, Majoub A, is such a success that “children are eating nabuk fruit from a tree growing where there was once desert,” according to Kids for Kids’ Patricia Parker.

14 species of trees are being planted to provide sources of shade, food and revenue, while the mighty baobab tree is being reintroduced to an area that has not seen them grow for years. www.kidsforkids.org.uk

Fruits of the future

With the support of ITF’s Surrey branch, villages in the Philippines are looking forward to a sustainable source of income.

The Partnership for Ecological Orientation for the Preservation of Leyte’s Environment Organisation (PEOPLE), is an organisation working on the island of

Leyte, Philippines. With the help of ITF they are rehabiltating ten hectares of farm land for forest and fruit trees, using a combination of co-operative labour and food for work incentives.

PEOPLE has already planted 7,000 trees, including mango, durian, and the native red sandalwood tree.

The fruits of the mango tree

Durian fruit

Tree management on the small screen In the Mopti region of Mali, trees are scarcer than ever.

Women walk miles to find firewood that used to grow close to home – and when that runs out, they are forced to use inefficient fuels like cow-dung and millet stalks. Plant stems

that were once used as animal feed, and trees that provide medicines, are also burnt to cook food, while firewood itself can fetch an astronomical 500 francs per bundle. In this difficult situation, sustainable development charity Sahel

Eco is working with local people – supported by the International Tree Foundation – to develop farmer managed natural regeneration (FMNR) schemes, through which firewood can be harvested while allowing trees to

One of the PEOPLE staff in the Leyte tree nursery

The Joliba Trust is educating children about trees

Starting early Developing natural regeneration schemes in Mali

continue growing.

A training film, made with farmers from the Horé Guendé and Endé villages, has now been shown in six villages and has also been broadcast on national television.

Read more on page 20

In the Sahel regions of Mali, the Joliba Trust has been working with the support of the International Tree Foundation to develop mini-arboreta in local schools. The diminutive botanical gardens are just one strand to the work that the charity does in assisting local communities to halt the rapid advance of the desert onto the lands that they depend upon to survive. In 2008-09, mini-arboreta were set up in seven schools, with between 11 and 21 species planted at each school.

A total of 627 pupils have now learned about the value of trees and the environment that they protect – as well as practical techniques such as planting, cultivation and disease management. www.jolibatrust.org.uk

People in the Sahel regions learn all about mini-arboreta Volume 68 | trees | 5

GLOBAL UPDATE

Jason Hartman, the winner of South Africa’s Pop Idol

A year of diversity

T

POP IDOL BRANCHES OUT

Jason Hartman runs South Africa’s Men of the Trees, a partner organisation to the International Tree Foundation.

In 2009 he won South Africa’s Pop Idol contest What has your year been like since winning Pop Idol?

It has been amazing! We have played to thousands of people throughout our country. This has helped us to generate a lot of interest for South Africa’s Men of the Trees.

Have you used your newfound stardom to get more South Africans thinking about the trees around them?

Absolutely! We see this exposure as the best way to generate interest toward conservation. We have been blown away by the support.

You set up Jason’s Garden, aimed at getting all sorts of people to plant and grow their own organic vegetables, and you have already gathered thousands of pledges for the Planting Season initiative.

Why do you think the idea of planting has taken off so much?

1

2

3

6 | trees | Volume 68

I think that people here and around the world are seeing the importance of being ‘Green’. It is the way of the future and the support is obviously a reflection of a shifting consciousness.

Can you tell us what is the most pressing issue facing the environment in South Africa at the moment?

Soil erosion and coastal deforestation are on top of the pile. Both are serious, but can be overcome.

How is the ITF-funded project to create indigenous tree nurseries in the Karkloof Forest Reserve going?

We have completed the nursery and we have planted close to 1200 new trees, after initially purchasing 500.

All is looking good and we are incredibly grateful to the ITF for their support.

4

5

www.jasonsgarden.com

he year 2010 has been designated the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) by the United Nations and will culminate in the tenth Convention of the Parties meeting in Nagoya, Japan. Here the 193 signatory countries to the Convention on Biological Diversity will assess the achievements of the last ten years and, crucially, commit to new targets for species loss reduction for the decades ahead.

IYB events in the UK are being managed by the Natural History Museum, following a year of celebrations to mark the bicentenary of biodiversity hero Charles Darwin. The centrepiece was a new sculpture, Tree, by Tanya Kovats. Made from a single 200-yearold oak, the work included the planting of 200 oak saplings in the forest it left behind.

Find out more at www.nhm.ac.uk

IN BRIEF n At Molly and Paul Farm School Project in Uganda, vulnerable children are now enjoying working with fruit trees for food and income. The school applied for ITF funding to plant fruit tree seedlings earlier this year, and the trees are now managed by the children themselves. www.mollyandpaul. org.uk n Footage of ITF founder Richard St Barbe Baker has been given a new lease of life.

New Zealand website NZ On Screen hosts a

documentary, made in 1981.

In it, St Barbe warns of desertification and laments the earth being “skinned alive.” www. nzonscreen.com n A grove of indigenous trees is to be planted in Malta with the assistance of the German town of Minden. The project, the result of a long-term affiliation with ITF Malta, will see trees planted in an area of high aridity, in an effort to regenerate the land.

THE BIG ISSUE

THE lost canopy

F

ollowing Darwin’s Origin of Species, we have been brought up to think that life on Earth was a recipient of physical conditions imposed implacably upon it, and that life, through evolution, did little more than its best to adapt. On the contrary, life actually interacts physically with its environment, transforming it and regulating the conditions which it encounters in its immediate vicinity.

In that dynamic process forests play a critically important role, managing climate and bringing in the flows of humid air from 8 | trees | Volume 68

the oceans, so that the large continental regions of the planet get their rain.

That role, whereby a sufficient density of trees initiates a hydrological cycle that draws the rains in from the sea, is something we have known since time immemorial.

Whenever a civilisation has eliminated its forests, that has been its death knell. We now know that the Mayan civilisation met its demise when a hotter climate, combined with excessive deforestation, caused fatal shortages in water.

With our global emissions of greenhouse gases, we have so destabilised climate that surface temperatures are now as much

as 0.8°C higher than half a century ago.

Business as usual emissions over the next half century could take temperatures well above the 2°C goal beyond which we would be in the grip of dangerous and irreversible changes. Even today, in the boreal regions, we are finding that trees are dying because of rampant infestations and disease, on account of warmer temperatures.

Unquestionably, the lion’s share of the emissions comes from our use of fossil fuels. Nevertheless, a considerable proportion, perhaps as much as 20%, of the emission of greenhouse gases is the result of destroying forests, particularly in

Images: Shutterstock

Peter Bunyard believes that the world’s forests have a vital part to play in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before it’s too late

Planting trees in Africa is crucial in recovering land and supporting communities

whenever a civilisation has eliminated its forests, that has been its death knell

Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest

Palm tree seedlings in a greenhouse ready to be replanted

the tropics, where each year thousands of square kilometres have been razed to the ground to make way for plantations and, particularly in Latin America, for extensive cattle grazing. In 2004 alone, an area of forest the size of Belgium – some 26,000 square kilometres – was destroyed in the Brazilian Amazon. Meanwhile, in Bolivia, vast areas of its Amazon have been cleared for soya plantations, as they have too in Brazil’s Mato Grosso.

E

ver since the unprecedented, devastating drought which struck the Amazon Basin in 2005, leaving millions of fish dead and sparking thousands of f i res, t he Bra z i l i a n government does seem to have made an all-out effort to curb deforestation.

During 2009 the rate of deforestation, at 7,000 square kilometres, has fallen to its lowest level for many decades.

The Sahel region of Africa has shown us the terrible implications of removing tree cover, in particular the acacia, which can tap groundwater from well below 10 metres, therefore flourishing when other vegetation simply dries up and dies. The year 1984, associated with a powerful

storm in the Pacific Ocean, was disastrous for the Sahelian countries, bringing death to hundreds of thousands of cattle, and starvation and misery to the nomad populations. Government policy had been to uproot the acacia and plant groundnuts instead, using commercial fertilisers and banning the traditional visit to villages by the nomads with their herds. But recent moves to replant with traditional species in deforested areas of Africa is a vital first step in recovering the land, so that it can support settled villagers and their seasonal interaction with nomadic herdsmen.

Leading up to December 2009’s landmark climate change conference, COP15, at Copenhagen, countries with tropical rainforest such as Papua New Guinea and Colombia pushed hard for REDD – Reducing Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation of Tropical Forests. The idea of REDD is to provide a mechanism with which to compensate tropical countries for avoided deforestation and so establish a long-term reduction, with payments derived from the global market in carbon; carbon credits, in other words. If applied rigorously for 30 years, with a 5% annual rate of reduction in an equatorial country such as Colombia, REDD would result in a 4% destruction of the remaining forests, rather than 12%.

Recently, a number of private initiatives have come into being to reward tropical countries, such as Guyana, for their low rates of deforestation. PINC (Pre-emptive Investment in Natural Capital) is one such idea and HEDD (Halting the Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation in the Tropics) is another. Norway is giving Brazil in the region of one thousand million dollars to protect Amazon forests, and Holland has just announced that it will give Colombia some 8.5 million euros a year for a similar Volume 68 | trees | 9

THE BIG ISSUE

purpose. It should be noted that neither of those initiatives entail carbon credits; they are in recognition of the ecosystem services played by such forests.

I

n fact, the carbon contained in the forests of the world is at best a side issue when we consider the vital role of forests to regulate the hydrological cycle. All manner of vegetation draws up water through its root system and pumps water vapour out through the stomata in the leaves, but a closed canopy forest pumps out as much as five or 10 times more water vapour than does a plantation and it evaporates far more water than the ocean at similar latitude or indeed any other body of water, whether river, lake or reservoir.

Not only does the rainforest generate a powerful vapour pressure pump through evapo-transpiration, which has the effect of sucking in humid air from the ocean, but it also helps to form clouds. Both evapotranspiration, like sweat, and the formation of clouds cool the air above the canopy, so preventing the sun scorching the soil.

The enormous area covered by the Amazon rainforests, some 6.5 million square kilometres, makes equatorial South America something of a special case, although by no means unique. The faster growing forests are to the far west of the Basin, some 3,000 kilometres away from the mouth of the Amazon River. The rainfall they generate is the result of biotic pumping so that the same drop of water, derived from the tropical Atlantic Ocean, will get recycled every five days and therefore perhaps as much as seven times, as the air stream passes over the Amazon Basin on its way to the Andes.

That is why the Amazon River flushes

nearly one fifth of the world’s flow of fresh water to the ocean, five times more than the Congo and more than ten times the flow of the Mississippi. Without those forests, precipitation would decrease exponentially with distance from the ocean, leaving the interior a much drier, hotter place, perhaps by as much as 10°C, and therefore incapable of supporting humid tropical rainforests.

Back in Europe, December’s COP15 meeting at Copenhagen was undoubtedly a great disappointment, and for many a lastditch opportunity lost with regard to watertight commitments to hold back emissions of greenhouse gases and prevent climate catastrophe before the end of the century.

However, as a result of intense lobbying by countries with rainforests to lose, the conference was something of a first in realising the importance of mechanisms to prevent deforestation, not only in terms of REDD, for reducing deforestation, but REDD PLUS for compensating countries for having left their tropical rainforest intact, with the intention that they will continue to do so.

Hopefully, the commitment to avoid further deforestation will take hold in 2010 and help prevent climate catastrophe from the loss of ecosystems that are essential for climate stability and human survival.

By bringing to an end to the wholesale destruction of forests, the world will instantly achieve a radical reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

PETER BUNYARD A founding editor of The Ecologist, Peter has worked with the magazine since 1969.

He has written extensively on the Amazon and climate, and lectures at the University of Santo Tomás, Bogotá, Colombia.

a closed canopy forest pumps out as much as five or ten times more water vapour than a plantation 10 | trees | Volume 68

Five key reasons why trees matter Trees are essential for generating rain and for forming rivers. In the tropics, forests provide the humidity necessary for the formation of mountain glaciers.

1

Trees conserve carbon in soils, as well as in their own biomass. The replacement of forests with other vegetation, including plantations of trees, leads to the emission of large quantities of greenhouse gases – up to 200 tons of carbon per hectare in the equatorial tropics.

2

Reforestation, primarily with native species, provides a long term carbon sink and ameliorates soils, also helping to recover the regional hydrological cycle which can affect the global climate. It is essential to regenerate closed canopy forests with their high surface leaf area.

3

Forests, by means of evapo-transpiration and cloud generation, bring about cooling. Therefore, forest regeneration in degraded and deforested areas contributes to global cooling and combats global warming.

4

Judicious harvesting of timber and non-timber products potentially provide work for people living in forests.

It is vital that any reforestation scheme helps to sustain these communities within a healthy forest ecosystem.

5

Early morning mist over a tropical rainforest in Brazil

SPOTLIGHT

ACACIA

Also known as gum arabic, Acacia was first described in Africa by the early botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773.

■ The acacia has spiny branches, leading to one of its other names – the thorn tree.

■ There are several species of acacia spread mostly around the tropical and warm temperate regions of the globe.

■ While the acacia tree does not bear fruit, its seeds can be eaten and its flowers can produce fine honey.

■ The variety Acacia Senegal is also known as gum arabic, and is native to desert regions including Sub-Saharan Africa.

■ The gum is drained from cuts in the bark, and an individual tree will yield 200 to

300 grams. It is used for crafts, and for producing cosmetics and medicines.

Seventy percent of the world’s gum arabic is produced in Sudan.

■ Acacia trees are now being replanted in deforested regions of Sub-Saharan Africa such as Rwanda, Mali and Ghana.

■ The wood can be harvested as a cashcrop, and can be used in construction.

In Ghana, for example, the ITF-funded Rural Farmers Project supplies rural farmers in the Karaga district with acacia seedlings to grow and sell.

Volume 68 | trees | 11

GUEST WRITER

Rainforest Rescue The Prince of Wales’ Rainforest Project has gathered widespread support. Tony Juniper, special adviser to the prince, tells us about the plans to get our forests back on track

F

or more than three decades the international community has made various attempts to reduce and halt tropical forest clearance. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent by governments, NGOs and international agencies. Undoubtedly some good has come from this, but high levels of deforestation have continued.

Initially the response was driven by concerns about disappearing wildlife, impacts on forest peoples and the degradation of environmental services.

But at the heart of the discussion about tropical forests today is the matter of carbon, and how to keep it in the trees and the soils beneath them, and thereby out of the atmosphere. There is also an emerging

consensus about the vital importance of forests in underpinning global food security, not least because of the vital role that they play in generating rainfall.

The discussion has been controversial and intense. All the while, however, the forests continue to fall. Some six million hectares of tropical rainforests are cleared every year. The emissions arising from this are about 17% of the total – that’s greater than those from the whole transport sector.

When the service provided by the forests in absorbing some 15% of the emissions arising from human activity is taken into account, it becomes clear that any serious attempt to avoid the worst effects of climate change must include a credible attempt to slow down, stop and then reverse tropical deforestation.

Deforestation continues by the hour

the benefits to be gained from slowing down forest loss would be vast 12 | trees | Volume 68

The clearing of rainforests represents a constant threat

Even if the disagreements can be navigated and a treaty is forged soon, it will not be possible to generate substantial funds for years, perhaps taking more than a decade to allocate finance at an appropriate scale. During the course of that decade, another 60 million or more hectares of tropical rainforest could be cleared. This is forest that the world cannot afford to lose, giving rise to the rather important question of what can be done now to slow down the rate of loss.

The underlying reasons for deforestation are economic, and any serious attempt to slow down forest loss needs to provide alternatives to the income derived from logging and farming. Since late 2007 the Prince of Wales’ Rainforests Project has been researching ways in which this economic conundrum might be solved.

One result was published in April 2009, in the form of an Emergency Package for Tropical Forests. Based on nearly 18 months of research, the project team generated a set of proposals that could provide tropical countries with the economic space they need to embark on lower-carbon and more sustainable development.

Photos: Princes Rainforest Project

six million hectares of rainforests are cleared every year

The Princes Rainforest Project proposed that any new financing mechanism should be seen more like the payment of a utility bill – the price of maintaining services that are vital for human wellbeing everywhere.

But how much will it cost to provide that economic space for countries to embark on a different style of development?

This and several other vital questions were addressed by an informal working group of more than 30 nations, established at a top level meeting on rainforests hosted

by HRH The Prince of Wales in London during April 2009. Leaders of key countries agreed to work together on proposals for immediate action to curb deforestation.

The group came back in October with an estimate that it would cost about 20 billion euros during the period of 2010–15 to cut rainforest clearance by about 25%. To put this in context, 20 billion euros is around the total sum of bonuses paid to Goldman Sachs’ employees during 2009. This would deliver, the working group suggested, an emissions cut of about seven billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent during that five years, about the same as one year of US emissions.

The impact on wildlife is huge

There are many ways in which 20 billion euros could be quickly raised. One source would be a simple allocation of new finance from the main donor countries. Between them the total cost per country would be quite small.

Even if short-term budget pressures were a major issue for developed countries, the Prince’s Rainforest Project has set out some options on how governments might be able to raise money quickly.One involves the use of government bonds. These would be offered to private investors, such as insurance and pension companies, and would yield a modest rate of return. At the

end of the period the investors would get their money back, having earned a secure rate of return for the time the governments had use of their money.

As for the governments issuing the bonds, they would have choices in how to repay investors as the bonds matured. They could simply raise money through taxation, or they could align repayment with other climate protection policies that they will, in any event, need to implement over the next decade and beyond. For example, they could allocate money derived from the auctioning of credits in their ‘cap and trade’ schemes, or could tax aviation fuel.

They might put in place a Tobin tax on international currency transactions.

While the money needed is not huge, the benefits to be gained from slowing down forest loss would be vast. There is now an international consensus on what to do, and increasingly on how to do it. Right now appears to be the moment for decisive action. We may not have too many more chances to make the difference needed.

Find out more

www.rainforestsos.org Volume 68 | trees | 13

ITF PEOPLE

Into the past

When Kenton Rogers first crossed the Sahara, he had no idea the trip would eventually lead him to some of the world’s oldest and most isolated trees

14 | trees | Volume 68

Trees can help to halt desertification

Foundation, to the rare cypresses of the Tassili n’Ajjer plateau in southern Algeria.

“There’s not much known about Algerian cypress. Richard St Barbe Baker wrote about it briefly in his book The Saharan Challenge, and that’s where I first heard about it,” Kenton explains. “There were scientific reports around on how many were left, but they differed in number.”

The most recent count was led by Algerian researcher Fatiha Abdoun, local archeologist Muhammad Beddiaf and Park Warden Wawa Muhammad Hamid, between 1997 and 2001. They found a total of just 233 trees on the 1,000 kilometresquare plateau, securing the species’ place on the IUCN’s critically endangered list. For Kenton, making the trip was not only about tracking down these elusive trees, but about laying plans for a multi-agency conservation project aimed at safeguarding the surviving trees, reducing pressures from grazing and human intervention, and planting new ones. His first trip, in February 2009, was a daunting prospect.

“When I first got off the plane, I thought, what the hell am I doing?” Kenton’s companion, a photographer who’d travelled to the area before, had been forced to cancel at the last minute. “Muhammad Beddiaf met me at the airport, and I was driven out into the desert about two in the morning,

My favourite tree Silver Birch ‘This tree is often overlooked but it produces a wonderful, dappled shade,’ says Kenton.

‘I wish that developers would use it more when they are creating new housing estates in our towns and cities. I’ve got two in the garden at home.’

where the locals made a little campfire to greet me and then I went to bed.

“Slowly, it got light and when I woke up it was cold and windy – the Tassili n’Ajjer is a 2000-metre high escarpment and it’s in shadow in the morning.

“But when we started leading the donkeys and walking into the gully, I got it.

I was amazed that somewhere so barren could be so beautiful. It’s the remoteness of it that shocked me, and the sounds as well.

Photos: Kevin Bubriski and Kenton Rogers

I

t was 2005, and Kenton Rogers, a 36-yearold forester, was journeying in a beatenup old car as part of the Plymouth-Dakar Challenge – an eccentric, more affordable alternative to the prestigious Paris-Dakar Rally, which takes place every year. He’d always had a notion to drive across the Sahara to the Gambia, but was unable to do so on his own. Joining the Challenge meant he could fulfil his dream – and, fortuitously, it meant he could raise money for charity at the same time.

Kenton chose to give his sponsorship money to the International Tree Foundation, and the funds he raised went straight to the Foundation’s Kartong Community Forest project to buy 1,200 mahogany trees.

“When I came back to the UK I was invited to the Foundation’s AGM and gave a talk about the challenge,” says Kenton.

“Since then I’ve become a trustee and over the last two years I’ve become more active with them.”

Trained at the National School of Forestry in Cumbria, Kenton grew up around trees.

His father was a forester in Wales, where he would take the young Kenton out during the summer holidays to tend to forest fires. The experience sparked a career.

After a sandwich-year placement on the Duke of Wellington’s estate and completing his forestry course, Kenton went on to work at HiLine Consultancy in Devon and is now studying for a masters degree in forestry and eco-system management. It was after his experience in sub-Saharan Africa that he began to take more interest in the role trees could play in halting desertification, and this interest eventually led him, as a representative of the International Tree

An unforgiving environment for any travellers

Kenton during his trip across the Sahara

As you walk up the canyons all the cliffs echo with your footsteps, and the guides hit their water canisters to make echoes around you.”

A

f t e r n e a rl y a d ay ’s exhausting trek through empty, moon-like terrain, the first of the cypress trees finally came into view – for Wawa. The warden’s eyes, used to the endless horizons of the desert, made the tree out long before Kenton’s could.

“It’s when you get closer and the tree gets bigger that you realise its significance.

The tree is the only point of reference.

Everything else is a mountain or a boulder

Local experts Wawa Muhammad Hamid and Muhammad Beddiaf

that could have taken you 20 minutes or two hours to reach, because there was nothing to scale it to. But when you saw the tree you could. It came out of the sand – the trees are couched into these riverbeds because they’ve been covered over the millennia by up to four metres of sand. And then some are another six metres above that level.

“I sat down about 50 metres away from that first tree to take it all in. They’ve done studies and the middle-sized trees are about 2,500 years old, and they’re three to four metres in circumference. The biggest tree is nearly 13 metres in circumference, which means it could be 5,000 years old, or even older. That’s older than the bristlecone pine, which at 4,000 years old was for a long time considered the oldest tree on the planet.”

The age of the trees is echoed in the rock art that peppers the Tassili n’Ajjer plateau. Paintings by long-gone residents show scenes of hunting that hint at a far more fertile landscape from thousands of years ago. Ironically, part of the threat to the trees today comes from tourists flocking to the park to see these works of art.

“The youngest tree is from 1952, so that would be 50 years old,” Kenton explains.

But with the right sort of

The ancient cypress trees of the Sahara

it’s only when you get closer to the tree that you realise its significance community-led conservation effort, he believes more seedlings could take hold.

A potential partnership between various organisations such as the Global Trees Campaign and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) would set in motion a long-term, in-situ conservation programme. Training in planting cuttings and raising seedlings is already under way.It is this local involvement, Kenton believes, that is absolutely crucial for any conservation plan to succeed.

“When I was in Kartong visiting the community that the International Tree Foundation works with, one of the elders said they had a lot of people coming to see them with a lot of projects. His general gripe was ‘you come here and give us all your solutions but you go and leave us with our problems’. But with trees its different.

“The good thing about forestry is that it doesn’t require huge outlay,” adds Kenton. “It’s just time, and care, and a bit of knowledge.” Time has passed slowly for the ancient trees of the Tassili n’Ajjer plateau. All they need to survive the next few millennia is a little love. find out more Read more about Kenton’s trips with the International Tree Foundation on his blog: http://journals.worldnomads.com/kenton Volume 68 | trees | 15

Photo: Shutterstock

GALLERY

16 | trees | Volume 68

Tree of Life

The magical baobab tree thrives in some of the world’s hottest regions For many communities the ancient and mighty baobab tree is indispensable. Its fruit is higher in Vitamin C than an orange, and its trunk stores precious water.

Varieties of the baobab grow in Southern Africa, Australasia and the Sahel, where its natural habitat is rapidly decreasing.

The International Tree Foundation works with charities like Ethiopia’s Bale Beauty Nature Club, trying to reintroduce the tree to local villages one by one.

Volume 68 | trees | 17

Under the Canopy

Nina deGroote working with children from London

IN THE CITY

Trees for Cities is a charity set up to plant and promote trees in urban areas. Schools and Events Coordinator Nina deGroote spends her time persuading local communities to get their hands dirty, and on December 5 she helped the people of Hillingdon plant 2,000 saplings for the BBC’s ‘Tree O’Clock’ initiative.

Here she describes her day

A

s Trees for Cities Schools and Events Coordinator every work day is different, extremely busy, full of fun and, more often than not, very muddy! Typically in a week I’m in and out of our offices in Kennington and Shadwell, running workshops at schools across London, managing our community events and attending planting ceremonies.

We’re planting trees every day, but on December 5 we had a challenge that was rather out of the ordinary. We held a community planting event in Hillingdon which was also part of the BBC Breathing

18 | trees | Volume 68

Places ‘Tree O’Clock’ world record attempt to plant the most number of trees in one hour.

The day starts at 5am, when I jump out of bed and head off to Hillingdon. We have projects running all over London but woodland projects are usually quite far out of the city centre, which means an early start. By 8am I arrive on site, meet my super team of colleagues and unload the vans: one generator, five marquees, 115 spades, 3,000 whips and a huge mixture of other resources and tools are all set up around the beautiful park in the dawn light.

At 10am our volunteers arrive. We have a fantastic team who help us out at events, and 50 of them have come along today to lend a hand. All the participants are signed in, allocated a planting team, given a health and safety talk, gloves, a spade and a planting demonstration, so that they’re ready to plant when the siren sounds!

It’s 11am, and time for the world record attempt to begin. The Mayor of Merton starts things off for us and the volunteers get stuck in, planting 2,000 trees in the hour – a fantastic result. We plant a mix of native species to extend the wooded areas in the park and attract wildlife to the area. Many residents mention that they have been using the park for years and are pleased to be able to make a difference by planting new trees.

The hour-long record attempt is over, but the event continues for us: everything we do is completely free and we try and make

these days fun for all the family. At this event we have face painters, woodland survival skill demonstrations, bird box making workshops, live samba drummers, arts and craft activities and free refreshments.

A number of children from the schools we have worked in come along. We try and involve at least two schools per project, either getting them involved in a planting workshop before the event takes place or else getting them out the week after to help us complete the project.

O

u r sc hool work shops involve fun environmental education activities as well as planting, so that we can get the children thinking about why trees are important for people and wildlife and why we need to plant trees in cities like London. The kids love getting muddy and there are always squeals of excitement when worms are discovered!

Some of the children even forge close bonds with ‘their’ trees in the workshops, and many are pleased to revisit their new friends.

By 4pm we’re all packed up and I leave for home happy that the event went so well, that so many trees were planted and that everyone had a good time.

Find out more www.treesforcities.org

PROJECTS

project focus

The International Tree Foundation supports schemes that achieve real change under the themes of justice, livelihoods and biodiversity. We meet the people behind just a few of these projects

THEIR Designs for life

were the first people we approached for assistance, and they said yes.”

The Peace Garden was founded by American Joanna Birch-Brown, who had received a fellowship from the Compton Foundation in California to start an environmental and social justice project.

Initially the garden was conceived as a means to support refugees and those seeking asylum, and was modelled on the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture’s Natural Growth project, which uses gardening as a kind of gentle therapy. The team began inviting people who had mental health problems to come down, too, and the garden soon became a place for everyone.

“There’s little investment in this area, there are issues with racism, and not much for people to do,” says Stefan. The garden fast became a success and now stages social events, with arts and crafts days and plenty of chances to cook and eat its produce. “The aim was to give people access to exercise and a social environment. Rather than just being a garden, it’s about creating a community,” Stefan explains.

Jeremy O’Callaghan, 62, is a former primary school teacher and has been volunteering at Forest Farm for 20 months – he comes once a week from nearby Redbridge. “It’s a rich mix of ages, sexes and communities here, which reflects the East End of London.

“We’ve got a couple of fruit trees already, which we planted 18 months ago – there’s a Stirling Castle apple tree and a Warwickshire Drooper plum, and we’ve been watering them and protecting them from frost. Recently I put green manure around them too.

“I do look forward to coming here,” adds Jeremy, “particularly to have a community lunch. There’s got to be a certain commitment.”

A small grant from the International Tree Foundation will enable the Forest Farm Peace Garden in the East End of London to plant a new orchard – helping this haven of social justice to bear more fruit

T Justice

he Forest Farm Peace Garden in Hainault, Essex, was established six years ago on a two-acre plot of abandoned land. The area was once home to allotments, but had been left fallow until the Forest Farm folk came along.

Recently, with the help of a grant from the International Tree Foundation, the staff and volunteers at the garden have begun designing a further one and a half acres of ground to be dedicated to an orchard.

Up to 100 trees – including pear, apple, plum and nut varieties – will be planted on this new section of land. Stefan King, Head Gardener and Volunteer Coordinator, explains that the planting will provide a chance not only to diversify the charity’s crop of organic food, but also to nurture the local bee population and offer training opportunities in tree management.

“The orchard is just beginning,” says Stefan, during a break from digging.

“We’re on our final designs. We’d had the orchard plans on the backburner for a while, but we didn’t have the time or the resources to do it.

“We got in touch with the International Tree Foundation after we read a book by its founder, Richard St Barbe Baker. They

Volunteers not only help tend the garden and orchard, but also enjoy its produce

Find out more www.forestfarmpeacegarden.org Volume 68 | trees | 19

PROJECT FOCUS

Spreading the Word

Planting in Ethiopia’s Keyit nursery gets under way

How a new film has helped farmers to reconnect with old tree traditions

I

Livelihoods

n the sand-strangled farmlands of central Mali there is a quiet revolution going on. Earlier this year, with support from the International Tree Foundation, Mali-based charity Sahel Eco teamed up with local farmers’ group the Barahogon Association to create a training film that raised the issue of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). Mary Allen, Executive Secretary of Sahel Eco, is based in the town of Mopti. She explains how the 15-minute film has made waves in Mopti and beyond.

“We made the film with members of the Barahogon Association, an ancient farmers’ association that had only recently been revived. During the first half of the film you see a village called Horé Guendé, where there are very few trees, and the villagers

Ethiopian nurseries are bringing new life to an ancient forest

I

biodiversity

n Ethiopia’s ancient but shrinking Wof Washa forest, local organisation Sunarma has created nurseries in areas where mature trees once grew. The five-hectare Keyit nursery is the biggest – a former government nursery, it is now supported by the charity.

Of the half a million seedlings raised there every year, Sunarma’s team – which includes youth groups bringing new trees into former forest communities –

are raising new species such as apple trees, which provide a source of income.

“Apple trees are highland trees, which are beautiful and useful because they produce fruit,” says Wof Washa forester Negash Tadesse. Negash has worked in the area all his life, and can see the difference that the new trees have made.

“For a long time people here didn’t manage their land or treat it well. There was no urge to conserve the land, only to use it.

You used to be able to get ten quintiles of food per hectare, but now that has fallen to as little as four quintiles per hectare.

“It is only now that they have started to plant trees that progress is being made,” Negash adds. “The Wof-Washa forest could become much bigger if it is properly managed. It might even be possible one day to create a whole new forest.” read more about NEGASH www.sunarma.org/lifestories

20 | trees | Volume 68

Photo: Greg Rødland-Buick

Seedling success

there explain the problems that they have.

Then the villagers visit another area, Endé, where the Barahogon have worked. They see the regenerated fields there and the film shows some of the techniques that the Barahogon use, including FMNR. “The idea was that by showing the two experiences – one where there’s extreme deforestation and one where the farmers have managed to regenerate – anybody watching it would find common points between the two.

“The film was shown in April and May, at the beginning of the agricultural season when people are clearing their fields ready to plant.

One of the main messages is that a farmer should go round the fields before they are ploughed and mark what seedlings he wants to keep. This is shown in the film, and it’s very simple, but you’d be surprised by the number of people who hadn’t thought of it. There are also people who have seen the film and say ‘you know, it hadn’t occurred to me that if I burn straw or cowdung it’s not going back on the field as manure’.

“Since we made the film, we’ve been showing it around ten communities, as well as at regional and national conferences. Members

of the Barahogon have also made their own copies, and shown them to another six communities. Now we’re going to concentrate on taking it to policy makers and researchers to show them that FMNR is a possible option for sustainable land management.

“The film’s aim is to provoke discussion.

It got shown on television in Mali, and then afterwards they had a round-table discussion with someone from Sahel Eco, and representatives from the National Federation of Farmers and the Forestry Service. They talked about the constraints that mean some farmers aren’t using tactics such as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration to tackle deforestation.

“We did follow-up visits in July, to the four areas where we showed the film with the local NGOs, and we drew up a list of 233 farmers in 89 villages who said they’d decided to practise Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration on at least one of their fields.

That’s really good. We’ll come back again in 12 months to see what’s happened.”

Find out more www.sahel.org.uk

WHO ARE THE BARAHOGON? In recent years farmers in and around the village of Endé, in the Mopti region of Mali, revived an ancient institution called the Barahogon (which literally means Kings of the Forest) to restore and protect the trees in their village lands.

Members of the Barahogon Association have helped to produce and distribute a unique training film which shows how Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) can reverse the effects of desertification in areas outside of natural forests. “Thanks to the production and distribution of the film, the Barahogon are known today both inside and outside Mali,” says Salif Aly Guindo, President of the Barahogon Association.

“This is shown by the number of visits that we have received since January 2009. These have included visits by NGOs, farmers’ organisations and a delegation of 20 people from Burkina Faso.

“This gives us a great feeling of satisfaction, although we are also aware of the many challenges that we still face, including reaching 100% adoption of FMNR in Barahogon member villages and strengthening the patrols of our village lands.”

Farmer managed natural regeneration In areas outside of forests, FMNR is practised as a way of keeping trees growing as a source of firewood, fruit and revenue, and also as a way of protecting the environment.

While the law in Mali allows farmers to manage trees on their own land, many farmers wrongly believe that those trees are protected by the state. Sahel Eco hope to raise awareness of the law for the benefit of farmers and their communities.

Volume 68 | trees | 21

REVIEWS

Seeds of thought From science to cider, we round up some of the best books and DVDs of the year

Orchard: A year in the life of a Herefordshire cider orchard Photographs by Gareth Rees-Roberts

more miles in his lifetime than most of us would hope to traverse – and all in the name of peace and justice. Editor of the renowned ecology journal Resurgence, Kumar describes in his latest book the need to reconnect with the spiritual power of the earth itself.

including Nicholas Stern, look at why so little has been achieved since Kyoto, and what practical policies should be employed to meet the targets we have set.

Eating the Sun

By Oliver Morton Fourth Estate

The Economics and Politics of Climate Change Edited by Dieter Helm and Cameron Hepburn Oxford University Press

As the debate heats up over how and when we tackle climate change, this collection of essays is a sound guide to the scientific and political solutions being discussed on the world stage. Leading experts,

Amidst the growing panic over climate change and its causes, it is easy to overlook that one, simple process which allowed life on earth to flourish in the first place – photosynthesis.

Oliver Morton revisits those school biology lessons and provides us with a fresh view on the process, informed by a sense of wonder that makes this an accessible and lyrical read for experts and novices alike.

Logaston Press

Wales-based photographer Gareth Rees-Roberts first exhibited his images of this Hereford cider orchard in 1987.

Since then, the sensitive and contemplative shots have been shown across the UK, and have now been gathered in book form. Rees-Roberts perfectly captures the tranquillity of the orchard’s avenues, from autumn dew to spring blossom, inspiring old and new orchard managers alike.

A Forest Garden Year Presented by Martin Crawford Green Books

As director of the Agroforestry Research Trust, Martin Crawford is more qualified than most to demonstrate the merits of organic forest gardening.

Based on natural woodland, Crawford’s own patch combines trees and shrubs to provide a haven for local wildlife, as well as some unusual foods, such as purslane, Snowbell fruit and bamboo shoots – all demonstrated here with clarity and conviction.

Earth Pilgrim

By Satish Kumar Green Books

An expert on ecology and a pilgrim in the truest sense of the word, Satish Kumar has walked 22 | trees | Volume 68 68, 2010

Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life Presented by David Attenborough BBC DVD

Produced to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150 years since the publication of On the Origin of Species, this important film shows the journey of another favourite naturalist – David Attenborough – as he travels along the paths that Darwin trod.

Attenborough uses modern science to help restate the importance of Darwin’s groundbreaking discoveries.

ONE OF US

Paul’s team at work planting trees in Devon

From Little Acorns With the help of the International Tree Foundation, the 150-acre National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire has gone from being a bare site to a place of peace and contemplation for those who have lost loved ones in wars across the world. before

planting roots Paul Humphries runs the International Tree Foundation’s first affiliate organisation, based in Devon. The group was formerly the Devon branch of the ITF and will now be able to work independently whilst remaining associated with the ITF

Paul, what sort of projects are you working on in Devon?

At the moment there are two major projects, one at the Westpoint Showground near Exeter, where we’ve planted over 20,000 trees. The other is at Crealy Great Adventure Park, a working farm with a children’s play area, where we were asked to put in a woodland trail. We’re also working on lots of smaller plantings, and we often advise the local council – if they want to know how they should approach managing

their trees, they come to us for our thoughts.

Why become an affiliate?

It’s a really positive step because we can be far more independent, and we can become more involved in issues such as wildlife and everything else that goes alongside trees. It also means we can apply for funding from different organisations, and even set up part of the group as a small company.

There’s a lot we’d like to do.

Why do you think Devon has the first affiliate?

There’s a strong ethic here

around the importance of trees and nature. There’s also a big forestry industry, and the first ever Forestry Commission plantation was here too, at Eggesford, so we’ve got a long history.

As an affiliate, how will you work with the International Tree Foundation?

We get a lot of enquiries about linking up schools here with schools in Africa.

That’s something that’d be quite difficult to do on our own but we can do it through the International Tree Foundation. We’ll promote ITF to people we work with – we see ourselves as partners.

And finally, why get involved with trees?

I’ve been doing this voluntarily since 1991, when I lost my son in an accident. Working with trees has changed the way I look at life. I now see nature as a force to heal.

If you like the work we do and wish to contribute on a voluntary basis through your own local organisation, please consider affiliating to the ITF. Find out more at www.internationaltreefoundation.org/UK

calling 01342 717300 or email

In 1999, International Tree Foundation Vice President Susan Hampshire helped local woodsman Bob Cooper to plant a Dawn Redwood at the National Memorial Arboretum. after

By 2009, the success of the arboretum saw up to 10,000 visitors arriving to mark remembrance every day. The Dawn Redwood that Susan Hampshire planted has flourished too.

info@internationaltreefoundation.org

Volume 68 | trees | 23

The gift that grows

Give a tree with the International Tree Foundation’s Family Tree Scheme, and you’ll be helping to create precious new woodlands across the UK

Join our Family Tree Scheme and we will plant a tree for your loved one for as little as £35. The woods across the UK are open for the public to enjoy, and provide a safe haven for all sorts of plants and wildlife.

s

The gift of a tree is perfect to mark any occasion For Christmas, birthdays, weddings, births, to remember a loved one or even as a special thank you – planting a tree means a lot.

Personal dedication On each site there’s a special record book where your gift

will be recorded, and a special dedication can be inscribed at your request. Your thoughts will be transcribed onto a distinctive personalised card – ideal as a keepsake.

At some sites you may be able to attend the planting and, if you are considering a gift of £250 or more, you could even dedicate a special area of woodland.

More about our woodlands International Tree Foundation supports the planting of woodlands and community woods in all areas of the UK,

To plant a tree or find out more visit www.internationaltreefoundation.org/donate call us on 01342 717300, or email info@internationaltreefoundation.org

24 | trees | Winter 2009

where trees are specially selected to suit the surroundings. Species are mainly native trees, including oak, ash, beech or Scots pine, and are planted as small saplings that in years to come will grow into sturdy trees.