Trees journal 2013 volume 68

Journal of the International Tree Foundation

“Whatever I’m working on, trees come first” Gardener and TV presenter Diarmuid Gavin on why he puts trees at the heart of all his designs Andrew Cooper Finding our roots

Matt Hancox Fruits of the forest

John Chettoe Hope after Chernobyl

Adrian Isaacs Boston tree party

Volume 68 December/January 2008/9 ISSN 1740-2395

Free to members of ITF

Give your family and friends a gift that grows through the International Tree Foundation, and safeguard Britain’s future heritage by helping to create new woodlands in the UK. For as little as £35, your gift will be marked by the planting of new trees in one of our woodland sites, many of which are in community forests. The sites are open to the public for recreation and enjoyment, while providing the habitat for more than half of our wild creatures and many of our favourite plants and wild flowers.

Perfect for Christmas and a great gift for occasions throughout the year Birthdays d Mother’s day d Father’s Day d Easter d Weddings d Births d Retirement d A special ‘thank you’ d To remember a loved one d

UK-wide woodlands We have sites throughout the UK to choose from, and the trees are specially selected for the woodland in which they are planted.

They are mainly native species, such as oak, ash, beech or Scots pine, and will usually be planted out as small saplings, which grow vigorously into sturdy trees.

www.ejpphoto.com

A tree for every occasion

Personal dedication Each site maintains its own record book in which all gifts are recorded. You also have the opportunity to include a special dedication to be inscribed in the book. In addition, you will receive a distinctive personalised card, which will include your dedication – ideal as a keepsake.

At certain sites you may be able to attend the planting and, if you are considering a gift of £250 or more, it may be possible for an area of woodland to be designated by a special name.

To find out more about the work of ITF contact: The International Tree Foundation, Sandy Lane, Crawley Down, West Sussex RH10 4HS Phone 01342 717300 email info@internationaltreefoundation.org www.internationaltreefoundation.org

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Contents In this issue…

Finding our roots

4

Andrew Cooper

Fruits of the forest

6

Matt Hancox

Hope after Chernobyl

8

John Chettoe

Diarmuid Gavin profile

10

Carrie Dunn

Boston tree party

12

Adrian Isaacs

Core issue

14

Kevin Croucher

Counting the costs of conservation

15

Charlene Watson

Book reviews Supporting ITF

18 19

Trees for communities Communities, and the benefits that trees bring to them, are at the very heart of our work. This issue of Trees is dedicated to the variety of different ways in which trees enrich and support communities around the world.

Having spent seven years living and working in Malawi and Ethiopia, I have witnessed at first hand the vital role that trees play in the health and wellbeing of communities dealing with real poverty. The conservation and restoration of forests has a twin local and global effect, benefitting individual communities on the ground and the global community, by contributing to the fight against climate change.

Throughout history, trees have played a vital role in the lives of our communities. On page 4, Andrew Cooper offers a wide-ranging and deeply personal overview of the value of trees to all of us, from the practical to the spiritual.

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: Terry Cann

David H Gore

Tom Goss

Kenton Rogers

Bland Tomkinson Chairman: Frances Neale Vice Chairman: Spencer G Keys Director: Lorraine Dunk Staff: Lyn Baylis

Joanne George

Sue Kipps

Sarah Leeming

Alice Malaiperuman

Trees continue to change lives all over the world, and in this issue we focus on two overseas projects that are transforming communities in troubled regions. On page 6, ITF volunteer Matt Hancox describes how an ITF-funded project in Gambia is sparking a new wave of enthusiasm for a community forest, while on page 8, John Chettoe explains how an orchard regeneration scheme is bringing fresh hope to a village in Belarus.

The Journal is published annually by the International Tree Foundation, a registered charity (no 1106269).

Meanwhile, in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia, environmental economist Charlene Watson is looking at the ways in which rural communities in developing countries rely on forests for shelter, fuel and food, and how those benefits can be measured. On page 15 she provides an insight into her work, and describes how forests and the communities that rely on them can be better supported, with the help of some incisive economic calculation.

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

Back in the UK, communities are rediscovering the pleasures of local

woodlands and orchards. One man who has been using his popular fame with gardeners and non-gardeners alike to promote the message that community spaces need trees is award-winning gardener and TV presenter Diarmuid Gavin. Having taken part in an ITF treeplanting to create a mini-orchard at his local primary school in London, he explains why trees are crucial in urban spaces, and to children’s lives in particular. Find out more on page 10.

While London schoolchildren will be learning more about apples, thanks to Diarmuid and ITF, how much do you know about the humble fruit?

Kevin Croucher lets us in on some unexpected apple lore on page 14, and raises a cheer for the renaissance of the community orchard.

If you’d like to take matters into your own hands, why not follow the example of Adrian Isaacs? Adrian set up the Boston Woods Trust, and has helped make the fenlands of Lincolnshire a more tree-friendly place. On page 12 he describes how he has created three community woodlands on his doorstep, and offers practical tips on how to do the same on yours.

Finally, I’d like to say how pleased I am to be joining ITF at this exciting stage in its development. I look forward to drawing upon the incredible breadth of experience and great mix of skills among staff, volunteers, members and the board. My priorities in the first six months will be fundraising and working with the board to improve decisionmaking and sharpen our strategic focus. If you have any comments, suggestions or ideas I’d love to hear them, so please email me at lorraine@ internationaltreefoundation.org.

Lorraine Dunk Director, International Tree Foundation

Editor: Michelle Pauli (info@michellepauli.co.uk) Executive editor: Eleanor Stanley (info@eleanorstanley.co.uk)

Front cover picture: Autumn colour at Westonbirt Arboretum in Tetbury, Gloucestershire by Anguskirk. See more of Anguskirk’s photos at www.flickr.com/photos/27712868@N05.

Design and print: www.intertype.co.uk Paper: Cover 170gsm Revive Silk, inside pages 130gsm Revive Silk

International Tree Foundation, Sandy Lane, Crawley Down, West Sussex RH10 4HS, UK Telephone: 01342 717300 Fax: 01342 718282 Email: info@internationaltreefoundation.org Website: www.internationaltreefoundation.org

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ITF voice

Finding our roots

I

t may be Stone Age humour, but anyone who claims that trees do not have an impact on us has obviously never been hit on the head by a wooden club. Most of us can think of the ways that trees have had an impact on our lives. For me, trees are special. Travelling around the world I have filmed the wildlife of many great forests, and coming across a giant of its kind is always a remarkable experience.

There is nothing more impressive than standing beneath a large tree, its wide, spreading branches reaching high into the sky. Self-supporting, bending only before the fury of a gale or sagging beneath a heavy fall of snow, its sheer scale dwarfs all other life around.

Trees for communities Trees are intrinsically linked to the history of our community life. Since people first began felling the primeval forest that once covered the British Isles, trees have held a disproportionate importance to our communities. For thousands of years, mankind and wood have gone hand-in-hand through the centuries. Wood was once the essential ingredient for human survival, providing us with shelter, food and fire power, whether as weapons of war or in defence of our homelands. As tools of a trade it allowed the means to create and build. It gave us greater mobility with the invention of the wheel, and it formed the structure of early ships and even aircraft.

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Timber also helped the first farming communities to keep the wildwood at bay. Once a tree is felled, millions of seeds are triggered by the newfound light. To prevent woodland from returning, the land must either be grazed by domestic stock, contained by wooden fencing or cultivated by the use of a plough – and the original ‘ard’ plough had no metal parts. Timber not only supported the fabric of our communities, but also their rulers.

Sitting upon wooden thrones, kings ruled their realms.

Trees also provide food. The fruits and leaves of some trees are highly nutritious, while others can be poisonous, yet they all play an important part in the complex web of life. Some trees are especially significant to people. As landmarks or ties to historical events, trees not only create the pages that actually make up our history books but often feature large in its text.

Personal memories For me, trees also hold many memories.

More than a decade ago, my first visit to the Russian arctic provided many experiences – some cherished and etched in my mind forever, others I would prefer to forget. One humbling occasion was a walk through a conifer forest, the most northerly of its kind.

The track was wide and the trees not particularly tall. Then we came to a section alongside the path where a

Above: A giant honeybee comb colony in a ‘magic tree’ of Assam, India, illuminated by the moon. swathe of taller trees had all been evenly topped some four metres above ground. When I enquired why, the answer seemed obvious – Christmas trees! What puzzled me was why the local people had not taken the smaller ones we passed earlier, and how they got up so high to cut them off in such a straight line. My Russian host gave me a look of utter bewilderment – that was the level of winter snow!

A few days later, I experienced another revelation. The great arboreal northern forest stretches in a vast broad band around the world. No other trees grow closer to the pole. But even these tough conifers are limited by arctic tundra – permanently frozen ground. Here their roots cannot survive, and beyond the so-called ‘tree line’ they become increasing small and stunted. I had read many years ago that if the planet were entering a new Ice Age, then beyond the ‘tree line’ only dead and dying conifers would be found. Yet walking out from the forest, several hundred metres across the frozen tundra, I found many young saplings growing strongly – and not a dead tree in sight. The world was indeed warming, and an entire forest was on the move, spreading north in the wake of the retreating ice.

Andrew Cooper

Through the ages trees have been intrinsically linked to community life.

Andrew Cooper, award-winning wildlife film-maker and member of ITF’s Devon branch, describes the importance of trees to communities.

ITF voice Honey

In Assam there is the Bombax ceiba, the so-called ‘magic tree’, a spectacular colossus of its kind that provides this vital ingredient for which people are willing to risk life and limb. Few individuals have the skill and nerve to harvest wild honey – especially when it is protected by the giant Indian killer bee. This quest found me with a mad bunch of Austrian entomologists, travelling from the hot humid valley of the chocolate-coloured Brahmaputra to the clear blue glacial melt waters of the Manas in the foothills of the Himalayas.

We were following the seasonal migration of millions of ferocious honey bees on their epic annual journey from the sultry lowlands of Assam to the borders of Bhutan. These bees are over 3cm in length. They are also dangerous, with a large dose of venom, and they choose some very special trees in which to live.

Other resources But honey is not the only product that communities harvest from trees, and the towering Bombax ceiba is a particularly versatile species. Its massive, buttressed trunk is armed with devilishly sharp spines, and rises taller than a 10-story building before branching out. In late winter, before the first leaves appear, the tree produces countless huge blood-red flowers, with hand-sized petals. Its synchronised blooming is visible from a considerable distance. The flowers produce copious nectar that is attractive to many creatures, from birds to bats and hordes of ants. They all help pollinate the blooms, and its seeds eventually burst out in white balls of fluff that float away in the wind.

At certain times of the year in especially big trees, millions of bees make temporary homes building a comb the length of a small car. While

Andrew Cooper

An intrepid entomologist collects killer bees for DNA samples.

Andrew Cooper

we were exploring by elephant, the local people simply watched their magic trees and waited. Each region has only a few trees that the bees might choose, and the honey hunter’s reward is reputed to be the richest and sweetest in the world. The Asian giant honeybee Apis dorsata forms massive single-comb colonies that usually hang beneath the sturdiest horizontal branches. Although colonies seasonally migrate over hundreds of miles, they often return to their original nest site – even after an absence of two years.

How the bees do this is a mystery.

While a queen might survive that long, her workers live for only a few weeks, and the colony sends out scout bees to locate the next tree. Each colony may consist of 100,000 bees, and more than 200 colonies can sometimes be found on a single tree. After occupying a nest for a few months, the bees suddenly abscond and fly to an alternative site, which may be over 120 miles away.

No matter where in the world I go, I find trees that are important to communities. One valuable resource that is harvested from trees, with no adverse impact on the tree or the local environment, is honey.

The silk cotton flower has many uses, from mattress stuffing to medicine.

All around the world, trees continue to be valuable to communities in numerous different ways. Felled trees provide timber and fuel for shelter and warmth, but intact forests are also harvested for products as diverse as essential oils, medicinal products and, of course, food. From the Brazil nut of the virgin rainforest to the many varieties of apple, pear, plum and cherry found on trees in our less exotic climate, trees offer sustenance in uniquely delicious form. On the level of the global community, trees have a vital part to play in climate regulation.

Spiritual life

This so-called ‘kapok cotton’ is collected and used to stuff mattresses or as tinder to light fires. The spines that grow on the bark are crushed and administered for stomach medicine, and the bark is used for alleviating asthma and kidney conditions. Even wild elephants seek it out, perhaps to aid digestion or help stomach ache. And, finally, the freshly fallen flower petals are used as a delicacy, fried and eaten by local villagers.

However, beyond the purely practical, trees play a crucial role in the spiritual life of our communities. There is something very special about a veteran tree, not only a vital home to innumerable creatures but an intrinsic part of our history and culture. Just imagine the life that has passed in a great tree’s shadow and the stories it could tell. If that does not inspire your thoughts, then try seeking out the UK’s oldest surviving single tree – an evergreen yew in a churchyard near the shores of Loch Tay in Perthshire.

Reputed to be over 1,500 years old and still bearing a large and healthy green crown, this living wonder is just two trees from pre-history. Now that really is thought-provoking!

The magic tree of Assam is considered sacred, and so is left to grow in peace, under legal protection. It is not surprising that it is also known as the ‘tree of life’, as it easily outlives many human generations – some of the biggest Bombax trees are thought to be several hundred years old.

Andrew Cooper is one of Britain’s most distinguished and influential television producers. As a broadcaster, presenter, writer and international award-winning wildlife film-maker, he is a familiar face on BBC television through his documentaries and live reports on wildlife and environment issues.

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Gambia

Fruits of the forest ITF is helping a village in Gambia to revive its forest after a year of neglect. MATT HANCOX is volunteering with the community to secure the renaissance of the forest and explains how the work is sparking a new wave of enthusiasm for conservation.

A

hmadou Jarjou is a member of the forest committee, and has been involved with the community forest since the planning stages. He and his family have experienced the rise and fall of the community forest over the last few years.

He managed to find some other work – “It was only by chance that a friend of mine was opening a video club and I was able to earn money for my family,” he explains, but his passion for the community forest still remained. “I told my co-workers that although our services are no longer required and we aren’t being paid, we should continue our patrols as much as possible,” he says. However, despite the valiant efforts of Ahmadou and those like him who continued to patrol the forest, without the support of the Forestry Department and the forest committee, the protection of the community forest was a vain hope.

How ITF is helping Working with the Kartong Association for Responsible Tourism in Fajara, ITF is supporting a community-owned forest in Kartong. The benefits to the local community are numerous – replacing trees being felled, reducing fire damage, providing fast growing trees for a wood lot, and growing seedlings and trees for sale.

Villagers will benefit from the easier availability of firewood, but the project is also linked to an initiative to provide fuel-efficient stoves that burn rice husks rather than wood. The project employs local people, and involves local schools by organising seed collections and teaching the children about the need for forestry preservation.

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Kenton Rogers

Before ITF’s involvement, the Community Forest of Kartong had not been operational for almost a year, affecting the seven-member Jarjou family and the whole Kartong community. Ahmadou was left with no way of funding his children’s education, and no food for his family.

Ahmadou Jarjou and the rangers who are helping to protect Kartong forest.

The Kartong community had become disenchanted with the prospect of a sustainable and profitable community forest, and a few members of the community had begun to exploit the forest to pay for their children’s education, repair their homes or provide food for themselves. When I arrived in Kartong a high proportion of the hardwoods such as Bun-Kungo (red silk cotton tree, Bombax buonopozense), Sibo (rhun palm, Borassus aethiopum), Keno (african rosewood, Pterocarpus erinaceus) and Jallo (mahogany), had already been removed from the forest.

The rhun palms have been most sought after, as they are easy to fell and termite-resistant, and so are useful for many building applications.

First steps It was clear that the disheartened Kartong community needed to be encouraged to realise the benefits that a successful community forest could bring to themselves and their families. So, with the aid of Ahmadou, we embarked on gathering the forest committee members for a general meeting, to discuss what had happened in the past and to formulate a plan for the future.

From the general meeting, we managed to gather an abundance of old documents. The members of the forest committee could not remember the majority of them, and there were others that were not relevant to the current forest committee – but after sorting through the piles, and

following much debate, three important documents were found: the old forest committee constitution, a three-year management plan and the community forest proposal. These three pieces of paperwork were the foundation from which a new wave of enthusiasm arose, which engulfed the Kartong community.

First, during the re-draft of the constitution, forest committee members decided to include an annual membership fee to ensure that only dedicated individuals were involved, and to make certain that past events were not repeated. There was also a feeling from members who had attended a responsible tourism workshop that the connection with the Kartong Association for Responsible Tourism (KART) should be revitalised.

With the support of KART, the community forest would be able to conduct walks around the forest to raise money for purchasing trees for the next wet season and buy torches for night patrols and other essential pieces of equipment.

The forest committee saw this time as a renaissance period, and wanted to mark the rebirth of the forest by changing the name of the forest to Kartong Folonko Community Forest (KFCF), and creating a logo for the newly named project. I put forward the idea that the logo design could be a contest for the entire community– especially involving the youth of the village. This initiative was a huge success, and a variety of

Kenton’s tales from Kartong Yesterday we took a ‘pirogue’, a small flat-bottomed boat, up river through the dense mangroves to reach an area of high gallery forest. Our guides, Alfa and Samba, were able to tell us a good deal about all the tree and shrub species we encountered, and how they are used: bush tea, bark for medicine and seed pods for flour.

Even here, in this protected forest, illegal felling has taken place as it has in so many of the other areas we have visited. It is even occurring in Gambia’s National Park, Abuko Forest, where we spoke to the forest director, Mr Jalang.

Despite having not been paid since last July he still comes to work every day to try to motivate the rest of his staff, all of whom are also working without salary and relying on tips from visitors.

Kenton Rogers, ITF Trustee, visited the project in June ideas were suggested. We are currently working on variations of the logo in order to produce t-shirts to sell to visitors to the forest.

As we evaluated the three-year management plan, it became apparent that the biodiversity data of the KFCF was inaccurate and so a large proportion of the plan was unusable. This meant

Before the involvement of ITF, people thought that this project wouldn’t be successful. Now with the work being done we can succeed, inshallah.

Ahmadou Jarjou

new kid on the block Matt Hancox, a student from Cumbria University, left for Kartong in June 2008 to join the project for six months. Matt will bring up-to-date theory and knowledge to the project and will in turn obtain experience in the field which can be used later in his career.

”

that new information would have to be collected before any management of the forest could be undertaken. We decided that the KFFC would conduct a survey day to collect the required data, in order to propose a new management plan. The survey would be the first step in a new scheme to encourage the community to become active within the KFCF. A variety of different activities would be conducted, from tree planting to nature walks.

Kenton Rogers

We saw mature sito (baobab), from which we have some fruits to make a delicious drink, bantango (silk cotton) and the Saba senegalensis, whose fruit is much sought after. It provided welcome refreshment for our onward journey.

“

Gambia

Forest friendships Matt reviews forest plans.

Over the past few months Ahmadou and I have spent a great proportion of our time walking from one meeting to another. We are seen together so often that Ahmadou told me that when I have been away travelling he is frequently asked “Where is your tobabo [white person]?” When I had malaria he told me: “My wife thinks we have had an argument – that’s why you have been gone so long.”

Matt explains: “In the past there have been other volunteers who have stayed in a Kartong village compound. During their time, these individuals have been given a local name. It was decided by the elders of the village that I should also be given a Gambian name, as I am now a resident of the village.

“The village elders asked me for my full English name, which I told them was Matthew Hancox. There was a small debate in Mandinka about what name I should be given. After a few minutes I was told that as Matthew means ‘a gift from God’, I would be named ‘Matar’, which is the Gambian equivalent. As for my temporary surname, there was no need for discussion because there is a local tradition that you take your surname from the kunda (compound) in which you reside. Since I am living in Jabang Kunda, my full Gambian name is Matar Jabang.

“Now that I am working with the ITF Gambia project my family are happy and hoping that this work will lead me back to being a forest worker,” Ahmadou told me. Although the ITF Gambia project is still in its infancy, the work that has been done has paved a path towards a sustainable and profitable KFCF, that will help educate the community about the forest, wildlife and responsible tourism.

Kenton Rogers

Shelters protect rhun palms from animals and illegal fellers.

“Having a Gambian name while travelling around the country, combined with the little Mandinka I have picked up, is very useful for being able to haggle with taxi drivers and shopkeepers. The Gambians seem to enjoy the fact that a tobab has a Gambian name and is trying to learn a local language, and it has really helped increase participation at forest committee meetings.”

Read more on Matt’s blog: http:// journals.worldnomads.com/ matthancox86

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Belarus

Hope after Chernobyl

I

t’s quarter to four on a bitterly cold afternoon in early November 2007, the sun is low on the horizon, and my wife and I are standing on the frozen, snow-specked earth of a fledgling orchard in the village of Golovchitsy, southern Belarus. In the slanting rays of the setting sun, we walk around the orchard talking to our local partner, Vladimir Nikolayevich Khlopok, who manages it. As we do so, I struggle to take some photographs with my frozen fingers. “What on earth am I doing here,” I wonder, not for the first time on this trip, as the cold eats into my bones.

Belarus is an independent country of some 10 million people, between Russia and Poland, created by the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991. Governed by an authoritarian leader, it is marooned in a Soviet past, with a central planned economy, and is torn between a close affinity to its Slav brother to the east and the attractions of EU membership.

On top of this, it has had to cope with the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, which occurred in April 1986, and that contaminated land and affected the health of its population – a legacy that will live on for many years to come.

Our link with Belarus goes back 17 years and, like many things in life, happened purely by chance.

Eleven-year-old Tatiana came into our lives in September 1991. She was one of a group of 30 children

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from the Chernobyl-affected area of Belarus invited to Somerset for a month’s recuperation, fresh air and uncontaminated food. Over the years we kept in touch with her and her family, we invited her back to stay with us, and we visited her family home.

Something about that very first connection ignited an abiding interest in this part of the world. Many of the host families from that first visit became the core of a registered charity focused on children’s recuperative visits and provision of basic medical aid to hospitals in the areas the children come from.

After several years’ involvement, we felt that our contribution was like applying a sticking plaster: providing temporary relief, but not tackling the root causes. So we started to look at more sustainable projects that could have a more far-reaching impact on villages and communities. Initially, we encouraged families to grow vegetables in polytunnels and sell their excess produce in local markets.

Then, we were invited to work with the local council in the small town of Narovlya, on the edge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, less than 40 miles from the site of the nuclear reactor. Just outside the town, in a small village called Golovchitsy, there is a cooperative based on an old estate that

Above: The tree-lined entrance to Golovchitsy park leads to a restored ‘English orchard’. once belonged to an absentee Polish landowner. Could we help the village to regenerate its orchard?

The park, with its impressive gates and wide entrance alley, still stands and is remarkable for the variety of trees found there – unusual in a landscape dominated by graceful birches, solid firs and pine trees. The estate house, which dates back to 1820, is still there too (another unusual feature, as many were burnt down during the Revolution), and is now used as the local hospital. But it is the scale of the old orchards that impress. The Polish landowner planted 8,000 fruit trees, partly to provide pectin to the sweet factory in Narovlya.

Now the trees stand barren and gently decaying – a constant reminder of a more productive and congenial time.

With support from ITF, we helped the co-operative to plant its first batch of 600 trees in October 2005. We used a dwarf winter apple variety suited to the local conditions that would allow the collective to sell them at new year when prices for fresh fruit are at a premium. We bought a further batch of 500 trees, which were planted in November 2006, and our intention is to continue to help them re-stock their

John Chettoe

A chance meeting with a Belarusian girl 17 years ago has led to a series of community orchard regeneration projects, supported by ITF, in the former Soviet republic. JOHN CHETTOE explains how orchards are helping to create sustainable livelihoods in Belarus.

Belarus with his son Vasily (who is also doing a distance learning course in accounting in his spare time) and wife Galina.

orchards so that they can produce and sell fruit for the village.

Local people, including children and teachers, have taken part in the tree planting, and the activity has helped the village regain pride in its orchards.

According to Vladimir Nikolayevich Khlopok, “Golovchitsa without an orchard is just unimaginable! We couldn’t have restored it alone.” The village has already dubbed it ‘the English orchard’.

They have worked hard to prepare the land for planting an orchard and to protect it against a particular local pest – wild boar. Anatoly’s land borders a national park where the wildlife is protected. To try to keep these beasts out, the Zhilitskys have enclosed their land with a homemade electric fence (which they call their “electronic shepherd”).

They are keen to plant an orchard, and have been doing a lot of research on the planting and care of trees – visiting a nursery and reading about it, as well as researching it on the internet. It was at a local nursery that they came across another ingenious way of preventing the young sweet bark of the saplings being eaten by hares – taping together used fruit juice cartons to form cheap but effective protection for the trunks.

This project is intended to be selfsustaining within five years. The village has an old fruit storage building that is in need of repair, and we are hoping that they will be able to do this for themselves from the income they generate from the sale of fruit. In addition they are interested in exploring the production of value-added products such as juices and jams.

The second area we are working with is the small town of Parichi, about 100 miles south of Minsk. It is a place that has seen better days and where, due to a shortage of work, the local authorities are keen to find ways to help the local people discover alternative means of earning a living. As a result, they support the idea of planting orchards. In November last year we met the mayor, Galina Shkredyuk, and identified four families to take part in the project.

The matriarchs, Olga Stasko, Valentina Khanenko, Nadezhda Dodarienko and Lyubov Savitskaya, all have experience of growing trees and want to be able to provide their children and grandchildren with fruit to eat and to have some to sell to provide an income.

Following our experience in Golovchitsy, we are now extending our work to two other areas: Konstantinova and Parichi.

In Konstantinova, about 80 miles north of the capital, Minsk, we are working with the Zhilitskys – a remarkably innovative and courageous family who have opted out of the collective farm system in order to try to establish their own small farming business. Anatoly, an engineer by training, works on the farm

The local authorities have offered to help by providing suitable land, fencing for the orchard, and transport to take the fruit to market. We will also have the benefit of advice provided by a local ecologist, Anatoly Sokolovsky, whom we have known for several years.

John Chettoe

Pine branches offer unusual protection against hares partial to fruit trees.

So where do we go next? We are currently talking to ITF about the model they have used successfully in Africa for setting up small-scale nurseries. This is a very good fit with our overall project aims of creating sustainable livelihoods.

One of our main challenges is dealing with the legacy of Soviet times. Brought up in a system where the overarching state provided everything from jobs to social care, many people find it hard to adjust to more uncertain times, and to making decisions and choices for

John Chettoe

The creativity of the local community can be seen in the technique its members have come up with for protecting the young trees against both frosts and predators, mainly hares.

They smear Vishnevsky ointment, an antiseptic, on the trunks, and wrap pine branches around the saplings, and it has proved surprisingly effective.

Olga Petrovna Stasko hopes to grow fruit for her children to sell. themselves. It is a lack of confidence rather than a lack of ability, but at times it makes it difficult for us to move projects forward as quickly as we would like, and to get decisions made.

We have been fortunate to work as partners with a very progressive couple, Eduard and Alla Voytekhovich, who have set up a Centre for Rural Small Business Development in the village of Komarovo. While head of the Komarovo Agricultural Lycée, Eduard became an MP, and was interested in changing society from the top. However, with the country reverting to a more authoritarian Soviet model, he realised that this was not going to happen.

Instead, deciding that change could only come about from the grassroots, he went back to his old job, and set up the centre to do precisely that. He built it with his own hands, by converting what were pigsties on a former bankrupt collective farm, and helping to set up a local bakery and workshop.

“The important thing is for us to show by example how these things can be done,” he says. “It’s Belarusians showing Belarusians. It may be a slow process, but ultimately it will have a transforming effect on society, because it’s coming from the bottom up.”

It’s a privilege to work with such inspiring people who, in spite of the odds, have an indomitable belief that life in Belarus will get better. Standing in that bitterly cold orchard last November, I knew in my heart that Eduard is right – and that’s why we keep coming back.

For more information about the work of Hope for Families in Belarus, email: hopeforfamilies@hotmail.com

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Celebrity interview

“Whatever I’m working on, the trees come first” Gardener and TV presenter Diarmuid Gavin recently helped ITF plant a fruit orchard at a London primary school. He tells Carrie Dunn why he puts trees at the heart of all his designs.

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iarmuid Gavin may be increasingly achieving popular fame as a television personality but he won’t be abandoning garden design to concentrate on the chatshow circuit just yet.

Though his spin around the ballroom in the popular TV show Strictly Come Dancing may have brought him to the attention of an audience without green fingers, his passion for horticulture remains uppermost – and trees play a particularly important role in his work.

“I begin all my designs with trees,” says the 44-year-old. “Whatever I’m working on, the trees come first. I select what kind of trees I’m going to use, and where they’ll be positioned, and everything else fits round that.”

Trees don’t just play a pivotal role in his design – he has a genuine affection for them for their own sake. If he had to choose one tree as his favourite above all others, he has no doubt which one he would select. “The oak,” he declares without hesitation. “It’s stately, it’s seasonal – in fact, I think it’s actually the coolest plant in the world.”

Gavin is famous for his eccentric approach to design. “I like to be bold and striking with my designs,” he admits. “I do have a contemporary mindset, and plan everything through thoroughly before I begin on creating the garden so I’m sure that everything fits together. I like to think I’m innovative, and I frequently use materials that people wouldn’t normally associate with domestic gardens. Garden design can be a very stuffy world, and I try to break out of those usual expectations. But of course the client’s wishes are paramount, because they’re the one who’s going to live with the garden day in, day out.”

It’s a strategy that has proved successful so far. After winning the Royal Dublin Society gold medal for garden

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Gavin’s contemporary designs have won him the Royal Dublin Society gold medal.

Celebrity interview design twice during the 1990s, he subsequently displayed at the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show in 1995 and 1996, where his city garden brought him to the attention of the media. Since his rise to prominence he has presented ‘Home Front’ and ‘Gardens Through Time’ for the BBC. Not only that, he is also an author, with a number of bestselling gardening books including Diarmuid Gavin’s Big Ideas, and Outer Spaces, and has just published Outdoors in collaboration with Sir Terence Conran – the first of a series of four books. That doesn’t mean he has neglected design, though. He returned to Chelsea in 2004 and was awarded Silver Gilt for his show garden, ‘A Contemporary Suburban Garden’.

Gavin’s increasing celebrity has given him a platform to talk about the causes closest to his heart. His love for trees means that he is heavily involved in several initiatives to promote their use and well-being, particularly in the urban environment. Not content with running a 5,000m race to raise awareness of the issue, he recently accepted an invitation to Middle Row Primary School in North Kensington in London. Parent Angela Nutt had contacted ITF for help and advice and the result was a mini-orchard sourced and delivered by ITF’s Andrew Hawkins.

The planting was undertaken by pupils under the watchful eye of the experts.

Gavin firmly believes this type of project has a huge benefit for children.

“Obviously, as a garden designer I think the appearance of everyone’s environment has a massive impact on their life and health,” he says. “But I think that’s especially true for young people.

In London, it’s quite likely that children

will grow up on estates or built-up areas where there are no open spaces for miles around, or simply in a flat or house where they have no access to a garden.

My house in London is not too far from Middle Row, so it was lovely to be able to contribute something to my own local area as well.”

Gavin is depressed at the lack of attention that developers pay to the landscaping and maintenance of communal areas in estates: “It would be so easy to do something innovative and useful, even in limited space,” he sighs, “but more often than not you’ll get sparse trees looking neglected and lonely, maybe a patch of grass, and the rest is concreted over. I genuinely think that a garden is as important as any other room in the house. The fact that this ITF project is giving city-dwelling children the chance to see trees grow and blossom on a daily basis makes it even more rewarding for me.”

Working with, and improving the lives of, children is another draw for Gavin.

“From the moment I decided to go into gardening as a younger man, I knew what I wanted to do,” he says. “I wanted to change things and make gardens more appropriate to me. Now I have a young daughter, so I still enjoy designing gardens with young people in mind. It’s fun to put yourself in their position and consider what they would like to see.”

He believes that the types of trees planted at Middle Row Primary School will have additional educational benefits: “ITF donated fruit trees, including an apple, a pear, a cherry and a Victoria plum – so having that orchard isn’t simply aesthetically pleasing, it also helps children to learn about where the

Gavin, supported by ITF, helped to create a mini-orchard of apple, pear, cherry and plum trees at Middle Row Primary School in London.

The school was grateful to ITF’s Andrew Hawkins for his advice and guidance. food they eat comes from,” he says. “I’m excited about the spring already. It’s always my favourite time of year in the garden, when buds start to come out all over the trees, and every time you go out there there’s something new to look at. Come April, the students will be able to watch the fruit growing and a whole eco-system developing; it’ll be a rare chance to get close to nature in a genuinely urban setting.”

Gavin feels passionately about the importance of trees in the urban environment – not just in schools, but in open community spaces too: “It’s easy for towns to become bleak,” he says. “Green spaces have shrunk hugely in recent years, and I think it’s vital for people to have communal parks and gardens. Trees of all varieties make those parks and gardens more attractive for people to visit. And of course, there’s the environmental impact in terms of trees’ CO2 consumption. The bottom line is that more trees just make places nicer.”

That is why Gavin is now involved in so many initiatives to promote trees in towns, both as a figurehead and as a hands-on designer. “I’ve been working with councils to design new parks with gardens and playground space, and consulting with people in the community to take their wishes and needs into account,” he explains. “That’s how I know how much people value having trees around them – and that’s why I’ll carry on working to get trees into green spaces whenever I possibly can.”

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Community woods

Boston tree party David Simpson Studio

ADRIAN ISAACS of the Boston Woods Trust offers a personal account of the pleasures and pitfalls of creating a community wood, and provides practical tips for starting your own, from fundraising to planting.

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he Boston Woods story began in 1988 when I spotted an announcement that the Grantham-based Woodland Trust was to receive £6.4m to create ‘woods on your doorstep’. I pleaded our case by saying we must be the most deserving doorstep in the country – in Boston two trees constitute a wood, and three’s a forest!

Over the following 18 months we located a 23.5-acre field for sale, raised £58,000 towards the cost (around £120,000) and finally, one Sunday in December 1999, a team of local volunteers planted around 15 acres with willow and alder. Although the willow developed a virus and died after about five years, the alder has grown well, with the largest specimens reaching 30ft after almost nine growing seasons. We have since interplanted with oak, which should enjoy the heavy clay on the site.

Having seen the level of enthusiasm for the first wood, I was keen to continue and expand the project. After discussion with my fellow trustees at the Boston Preservation Trust, we decided to set up the Boston Woods Trust in 2001. We obtained a copy of the Woodland Trust’s articles of

allowed the seed in the ground there to regenerate on its own.

association, amended the details to suit our needs and received confirmation of our registration from the Charity Commission in February 2002.

And so, by the end of 2001, we had three woods, comprising 45 acres in total, close to Boston.

We discovered that Boston Borough Council owned a derelict 9-acre allotment site adjacent to a notorious housing estate. During the summer of 2001 I spent hundreds of hours clearing the allotments of large quantities of fly-tipping, along with 14 sheds and a greenhouse, eight loads of rubbish and concrete, half a tonne of glass and three lorryloads of scrap metal.

Plans for the future include a sevenmile-long linear wood along the defunct proposed route of a Boston bypass. We believe the bypass will come one day and the route is likely to be close to the earlier abandoned line. At one point along the belt we have started to develop the Sir Joseph Banks Country Park and Arboretum. The park will cover 180 acres, of which we have bought and planted 58 acres. In the adjacent arboretum we hope to build a visitor centre, with educational facilities for local schools.

We persuaded the council to pay for an agricultural contractor to cultivate the land, which helped clear the bramble thickets and nettles before creating a ‘dip and roll’ adjacent to the road, to prevent fly-tipping. This involved lowering the verge and using the soil to create a bank so that no vehicle could come on site (locals had been dumping on the site after I returned home!).

Tackling challenges One of the major issues we have had to face is damage to the trees by vandals, both of the two-legged and four-legged variety. Following discussion with the Forestry Commission, we decided not to cane and guard our whips in the two woods adjacent to the housing estate, thinking the children would swordfight with the canes and smash the guards.

Six weeks after planting, 14,000 out of 16,000 trees had been bitten off by brown hares. We immediately caned and guarded – and the children behaved as predicted!

In the same year, we also purchased a 12-acre field a third of a mile along the same road. This was clean land into which we asked the farmer to drill grass seed. As the old allotments had a lot of rough grass on them originally, we

Vandalism near the housing estate is a constant niggle but, thankfully, is declining gradually. We have had around 300 trees, mainly ash, broken off. The first year we planted many hundreds of wild daffodils along the path sides, and every one was thrashed off with canes.

Now, finally, the novelty appears to have worn off.

Oliver Wilson

Adrian Isaacs (centre), pictured with Chris Lowis (centre left), John Bird (centre right) and Ron White (far right) from the Boston Woods Trust, and Julie Green from donor Asda, install a welcoming sign for visitors to the Boston Woods Trust’s new woods. Just seven years later, the newly planted trees are 20ft high.

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Having three droughts in the first two years of planting our grange and beechwoods meant that the former arable field land cracked severely, leaving trees planted down the coulter line in fresh air. We had to replant around one-third of the trees after a year and repeat this to a decreasing extent over the next two years.

Community woods

How to start a community wood First steps Planning permission is not required to change agricultural land to woodland but it is necessary check with the following: • electricity distributors – for overhead or underground services • gas suppliers and your local water authority – for possible underground services • British Telecom – for cables • county archaeology department or their agents in case of remains in the land.

Either contact the Woodland Trust and create your woodland in cooperation with them or set up your own trust. Having taken a 99-year lease on our first wood, we now have the freedom to develop it as we see fit.

Talk to your local authority and persuade it of the value of woodland – they may lease you old allotment land (it can apply to deregister the allotments within two years). Ask it to build the scheme into its forward plans if it is likely to take some years to complete.

Raising funds Landowners are currently asking £5,000–£10,000 per acre, and £5,000 is the most we have paid so far.

However, land prices appear to be rising steeply. Raising money for projects such as these is always a challenge, but we have had two grants of £5,000 from Awards for All (Lottery Fund). Boston Borough Council has donated around £30,000 over eight years.

If you are planting around two acres or more, grants are available from the Forestry Commission, and if you are allowing full public access and/ or using arable farmland you will get supplementary payments. We find that with careful use, the grant can pay for the trees plus grass trimming (and spraying in the early years) for up to 12 years.

We have a supporter group of 300–400 people who pay £10 per year. They receive our spring and autumn newsletters plus an invitation

to our annual open meeting, where they can learn more about our work and hear from a guest speaker. Last year we had Tony Kirkham of Kew Gardens and this year enjoyed a talk from ITF’s John Tuer.

We are currently coming to the end of a 15-month appeal to local businesses for help to purchase the 27.5-acre field we acquired last year. I believe it helps if you have a specific target purchase in view when starting such a campaign.

We tend to find that fundraising from national companies is almost impossible unless their head office is local to you.

Instead, try locally based enterprises.

Ideally, make an appointment to go and see them in person and be armed with a letter laying out your proposals with a map of the site.

We have built bench seats using old telegraph poles (free, from the energy company E-ON) for the seat and back supports. The seats and backboards we buy as green oak planks, which I season at home, then place up and bolt on when we have dug in the supports.

We can then raise £500 per bench by offering them as commemorative benches with a small bronze plaque for people to dedicate to a special event or the life of a dear one.

Choosing trees Once you have the land for your wood, you need to consider which species of tree to plant. Look around at existing woodland to see which trees do best.

Contact your local Forestry Commission office for advice.

From our experience with the trees we have planted, oak grows well in our heavy land as does ash, but the vandals love breaking ash off. Silver birch, alder and aspen all grow fast. Silver birch only lives for about 100 years (compared with oak at 400–600 years). Alder seeds everywhere as can birch. Aspen grows shoots from its roots everywhere, so do not plant aspen near your paths!

Blackthorn is vandal-proof but again suckers vigorously, and is vicious to remove. Hazel is fairly vandal-proof, being multi-stemmed, and the nuts encourage mice, which bring the owls.

If you are ordering several thousand trees it is worth obtaining several quotes. We also find that all-weather

A community wood planting timeline • Plan wood layout including allweather paths if required • Apply to the Forestry Commission for approval/grant • Construct paths during the summer months when the land is dry • Re-cultivate when the paths are complete • Sow grass seed in early September • Top off new grass in mid-late October • Contractor cuts, creating planting lines and sprays off each side • Volunteers plant trees on the last Sunday in November and cane and guard them paths are very popular (some grant is available for them from the Forestry Commission) and have found lowest quotes that were just half the price of the highest ones.

Gaining publicity Publicising the project is crucial to engage the local community. We try to ensure press coverage for any events, including our annual planting morning, which is always held on the last Sunday morning in November.

We usually have 40–60 volunteers each year.

The installation of bench seats and owl boxes also creates some photographic opportunities for the press, and we also have three highprofile patrons: Dr David Bellamy, the Bishop of Lincoln, and Mrs Lawrence Banks, a direct descendent of Sir Joseph Banks, the British explorer and naturalist.

We find that 90 per cent of our visitors are dog-walkers, so we make an effort to give them our supporters’ leaflet when they visit the woods.

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Nature’s bounty

Core issue The domestic apple tree has long been part of our landscape and community life. Fruit tree specialist Kevin Croucher explores the origins of this humble plant, and suggests his pick of tasty varieties for cooking and eating.

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In the centuries since the Roman settlement of Britain, different varieties of apple were introduced, often with the encouragement of the monarchy and, most notably, during the reigns of Edward I, Henry VIII and Charles II. This gene pool provided the basis for the development and selection of thousands of varieties. This breeding carries on to this day, although it probably reached its height during the 19th century. Some of these varieties became common commercial favourites nationwide, while others never travelled beyond a couple of parishes.

Apple growing was always a significant part of community life and the local economy throughout the country, from ancient times. Cider was a valuable and healthy alternative to often foul water supplies. The fruit was stored in many ways, to take people through long winters or on sea voyages. With the growth of large urban areas and the industrial revolution, some parts of the country became major producers of apples to supply the urban dwellers.

So often people associate apples with Kent or Somerset, rather than Yorkshire or Wiltshire. However, every county has its history of apple growing, its own varieties, and a range of history and folklore that has developed around apples over the centuries. Just look at how many place names contain reference to apples or orchards.

Today, our diverse heritage of both varieties of apples and orchard-rich landscapes have become increasingly threatened. In the early 20th century, serious efforts were made to collect

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and conserve varieties. The result is the National Collection at Brogdale in Kent – home to thousands of apple varieties but by no means a complete collection of all Britain’s regional varieties.

Since 1960, about two-thirds of Britain’s orchards have been lost.

Devon, for example, was second only to Herefordshire in acreage of orchards in the early 19th century. However, between 1945 and 2000, the county lost 95 per cent of its orchard acreage. In the UK as a whole, this change can be put down to different farm management practices, changes to government grants, and the pressure on land for new buildings and roads. Recently, the situation has improved somewhat, with greater public awareness, new planting grants and planning protection for orchards and fruit trees. No bad thing, when you consider that some of the nation’s rarest species of insects, lichen and plants are found in old orchards.

In many areas of the country, networks of people are banding together to create community orchards by saving old ones or planting new ones.

According to the charity Common Ground, “In city, town or village the community orchard is becoming the equivalent of the wood in the countryside a century and more ago – a communal asset for the whole parish.

But more than that it can be the focal point for the whole village – the moot, the open-air village hall. We could have school orchards, city, museum, hospital and factory orchards open to all.”

As well as helping to revive an interest in fruit growing and providing a way of sharing knowledge and horticultural skills, community orchards are also a place where young and old can come together to share old apple traditions, such as wassailing and bobbing, and newer celebrations such as October’s Apple Day. Kevin Croucher and his wife Pat established Thornhayes Nursery in 1991. It produces field and containergrown fruit and amenity trees from whip to heavy standard size. Tel 01884 266746, www.thornhayes-nursery.co.uk

Thornhayes Nursery

ecent scientific research has traced the origins of the domestic apple to the Tien Shan mountains of central Asia. Relict fruit forests still exist there, containing wild trees that would easily be mistaken for domestic apples. From this remote origin, over thousands of years, animals and people have spread apples throughout the temperate regions, either by seed or as grafts. While apples are known to have been brought to Britain by the Romans, recent findings suggest that they may have been here even earlier than that.

The Paignton Marigold apple is ideal for cider-making.

Tips on choosing apples When it comes to saying what tastes good, I only have my own taste buds to go by. I can’t borrow those of the person seeking advice.

There are a number of factors that come in to play in appreciating the flavour and texture of an apple.

Having said that, I can suggest five or six varieties that will consistently be marked highly by most people in tasting tests held at the nursery.

However, you always find the odd individual who totally disagrees with everyone else. Just hope that person never cooks you a meal.

Kevin’s ‘safe’ suggestions: Cooking apples (all consistently rated better for flavour than Bramleys): Don’s Delight Farmer’s Glory Newton Wonder Nine Square Upton Pyne Dessert (eating) apples: Ashmead’s Kernel Cornish Aromatic Holstein Oaken Pin Pitmaston Pineapple Tidicombe Seedling William Crump

Ethiopia

Counting the costs of conservation Rural communities throughout the developing world depend on forests for shelter, fuel and food. But the rising global demand for agricultural land and timber has led to many being cut down. How can we place a price on the complex relationship between communities and the intact forests they depend on, asks environmental economist Charlene Watson.

Charlene Watson

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rawling out of my tent, pitched in a glade of the montane forest, and making my way down to the small river running from the afro-alpine plateau, my field assistants snigger at my brightly coloured, ergonomic, super-grip, plastic toothbrush. More than content with their frayed twigs from the fig-like mettii tree to clean their teeth, I am ever reminded of the developed world’s shift towards an increasingly artificial environment.

3,700 and 1,500m above sea level, the second largest stand of moist forest in Ethiopia is home to giant forest hogs (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni), lions and endangered African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus), as well as threatened trees such as Prunus africanus. To the north of the central plateau, juniper-hagenia woodlands provide habitat for the endemic mountain nyala (Tragelaphus buxtoni) as well as antelope such as Menelik’s bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus meneliki) and reedbuck (Redunca redunca bohor). With a high number of rare and endemic species living in the Bale Mountains, it has been identified as one of 34 global biodiversity hotspots.

We’re in the Bale Mountains, which lie in the Ethiopian Highlands, 400km southeast of the capital Addis Ababa.

Topographically diverse, a central plateau rises 4,000m above sea level. With giant Lobelia species and ericaceous heath lands, this is the largest Afroalpine habitat on the African continent. It is also home to half of the global population of the rarest canid in the world, the Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) and the entire population of the giant mole rat (Trachyoryctes macrocephalus). Go south of the plateau and altitude falls rapidly – between

Charlene Watson

Bale is home to the rare Ethiopian wolf.

With few alternative opportunities to generate income, households in the Bale Mountains are highly dependent on forests for their well-being.

Although the traditional way of life is agro-pastoral, every household also gathers resources from the forest.

Households harvest a variety of forest products, including those for shelter and housing construction, cooking fuel, medicines, and food. Results from my research so far shows that twothirds of this total harvest is consumed within the home, with cash savings and income from sales amounting to US$407 per household, annually.

However, Bale’s communities face changes in access to these resources as regional government, heavily supported by international non-governmental

organisations, seeks to reduce the current levels of environmental degradation in the area.

This means that my research comes at a critical time: establishing the dependence of local households on direct forest products will assess what they stand to lose if forest access is restricted. Discovering local ambitions and concerns will allow better mechanisms for alternative income generation to be designed. Finally, taking stock some of Bale’s forest benefits will identify markets through which to generate economic incentives for conservation.

What ITF is doing in Ethiopia In the Wuf-Washa Forest area, ITF works with our partner organisation, Sunarma, to help establish nurseries and raise indigenous tree seedlings.

This is an ongoing project with the long-term objective of helping farming families move from subsistence farming, with its unremitting pressure on forest remnants, to a market economy where income can be earned outside the forest area. Alternative income generation is an important part of the process of alleviating poverty. Community-based forestry management also takes the pressure off the remaining indigenous forest where this project is based.

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Ethiopia Value judgements Forests provide us with a wide array of benefits, some more familiar than others.

Harvesting fruits, gathering wood for fuel, or getting pleasure from looking out across a tree-covered landscape are all direct benefits that are easy to relate to. Indirect benefits, on the other hand, are much harder to observe. These can include soil fertility, natural disaster prevention, and climate regulation.

Charlene Watson

In the developing world, human dependence on forests is much more

Ethiopia • Ethiopia is Sub-Saharan Africa’s second most populous nation with over 75 million residents. This population is primarily agrarian, with only 15 per cent living in urban centres. It is also poor with 78 per cent of the population living on less than US$2 a day.

• Biologically rich, the country is part of two biodiversity hotspots: the Eastern Afro-montane hotspot and the Horn of Africa hotspot. It is also home to a number of rare and endemic species as a result of its highly variable topography.

• Protracted civil war and political instability in the 1970s led to degradation of natural areas and neglect of national parks. The end of political suppression in the early 1990s led to extensive economic reform focused on alleviating poverty through increased agricultural productivity. The resulting large-scale conversion of natural areas to agricultural lands has exacerbated the degradation of natural ecosystems in Ethiopia.

• In 1999 Ethiopia was 34 per cent forested. Now only 3.6 per cent of the country’s total land area is forested. In response to this dramatic decline in natural forest, severe woody biomass shortages and water scarcity, eucalyptus and cupressus have been planted to meet construction and wood fuel needs. With short rotations and fast growth rates, these nonnative species are preferred over indigenous species.

Forest honey helps to raise incomes. obvious than in the environmentally disconnected developed world. Rural communities use forests to obtain building and shelter materials, to gather fuelwood, and to find medicinal plants and edible products. For the poorest households, as well as saving cash by harvesting forest resources, forests act as a safety net by providing supplementary sources of food and income in times of drought or low crop productivity.

Around 150 non-timber forest products reach international markets, including rattan, bamboo, honey, nuts and essential oils, but many more are sold on informal local markets. While it is easy to observe and account for the economic value of internationally traded products, those consumed within households or traded informally do not appear in systems of national accounting. Nor do the economic values of the indirect benefits of forests, such as carbon storage or the prevention of soil erosion. As a result, the true value of intact, standing forests, is under-represented in forest management decisions. This makes alternative land uses and revenues from timber appear more financially attractive than intact forest, when the long-term costs of the loss of these benefits are not accounted for.

It is true that when countries become richer the focus tends to move away from the value of timber towards that of intact forests. This shift of emphasis can be seen in the campaigns to slow

the global rate of deforestation in order to delay the impacts of global climate change. The reasoning goes that the costs of conserving forests now are predicted to be significantly less than mitigating or adapting to climate change in the future. The economic impact of declining soil and water quality along with the rise of climate change up political and social agenda have focused more attention on these indirect benefits of intact forests. This means that the wide-reaching effects of global forest losses are becoming harder to ignore.

However, with the majority of intact forest remaining in the developing world, a way to convert indirect forest benefits into cash flows must be found if these countries are to be persuaded to forego lucrative timber revenues.

If we can capture values previously unaccounted for to generate alternate revenue streams, communities will have an incentive to preserve forest resources. Not only will this kind of preservation mean that forests can continue to provide food security for subsistence households, it will also conserve habitats, protect biodiversity, and safeguard the less familiar indirect benefits of forests.

Capturing forest values involves creating markets for forest goods, often where no market previously existed. A simple example would be eco-tourism, where visitors pay fees to enjoy an intact forested landscape and its flora and fauna. Other examples are carbon offsets or biodiversity offsets, both of which generate environmentally favourable behaviours through transfer of wealth from a buyer to a seller.

But the promotion of markets for conservation is a delicate science.

Competitive markets for forest products have been known to lead to overexploitation, degradation and social stratification. Harvesting and marketing commercial quantities of bush meat, for example, can have a negative impact on the structure and dynamics of forest animal populations. The challenge of making this market-based approach to conservation successful is multistaged. First, the true values of forests need to be demonstrated. Second, a complete market must be created for

The road that runs through Rira village, in the centre of the Bale Mountains National Park, is the highest all-season road in Africa, which makes it a good place to sell market produce such as cabbages, onions and eggs.

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Ethiopia Coffee • Coffee is believed to originate from Ethiopia with Coffea arabica spreading across the globe after being taken to Yemen in the 13th century.

• The coffee ceremony is an important part of Ethiopian culture.

It involves the roasting of the green coffee beans over hot coals, after which they are ground, boiled in a special clay pot and served. The process allows the appreciation of the roasting coffee aroma which is complemented by burning incense and cooking popcorn!

• Although domestic consumption of coffee is high, accounting for half of the crop, it is still Ethiopia’s major export and the country is vulnerable to variation in world coffee prices.

• Ethiopian government has plans to increase the value of coffee by finding new, high value outlets for the premium varieties that are found in Ethiopia. The increasing demand for speciality and organic coffee varieties is helping make this plan a reality.

the providers of the benefits to capture these values and not overexploit them. Finally, we must ensure that the people whose habitual activities in the forest are restricted – often local rural communities – are provided with adequate livelihood alternatives or compensation for restrictions on their forest use.

Bees and beans Back in Bale, forest honey and coffee are two products that are notable for their contribution to household value, and that offer exemplary opportunities to raise incomes, thus reducing the household’s need to clear forests for agriculture or grazing.

With a strong tradition for bee keeping, Ethiopia is the fourth biggest producer of beeswax and tenth biggest producer of honey in the world, and Ethiopian hive density is thought to be the highest of any country on the African continent. Bale is no exception, and

Charlene Watson

• Coffea arabica constitutes approximately two-thirds of the world’s commercially traded coffee and is considered superior to other cultivated species such as Coffea canephora (robusta) that originated from West Africa.

An Ethiopian woman conducts the traditional coffee ceremony. traditional beehives constructed from bark, climber and bamboo can be seen tied high in trees. In Bale, the honey harvest is used for local consumption and to brew mead. In one community the annual harvest is equivalent to US$155 for each household. At present, although production more than satisfies local demand, the honey is too crude to compete in international markets. Increasing honey production or quality, through modern beehives or purification methods, could increase the sales of this honey in the region.

Harvesting of forest coffee beans is another significant source of income for communities at lower altitudes in Bale. Coffee was first discovered in the highlands of Ethiopia in the ninth century, and drinking it is an important part of Ethiopian culture.

In areas where the climate is suitable for Coffea arabica to grow, this forest product was found to provide US$550 per household. Coffea arabica is a shade lover, and in rural forest areas there are no fertilisers or pesticides used on these plants. This raises the opportunity for organic certification of Bale’s coffee. And, with increasing demand for more speciality coffees, the opportunity to get a price premium for uniquely flavoured Bale coffee could again raise incomes.

Next steps So far, my research has provided a better understanding of the economic benefits of the Bale Mountains’ forest, but there is still a long way to go. Not all values have been accounted for.

Traditional medicines, such as Hagenia abyssinica, used to treat tapeworm, hold significant value, as expensive modern medicine is beyond the reach of most Ethiopians. Eco-tourism, too, is on the increase in Bale, with tourists

coming to observe internationally rare animals, migratory and endemic birds, or to enjoy sport-hunting, fishing, and trekking. Research into the value of carbon storage is also underway, but methodologies to place a value on all the indirect benefits of the forest ecosystem are yet to be developed.

Despite the need for more research, it can already be seen that a traditional ‘fence and fine’ restriction to the forest in the Bale Mountains will have an adverse impact on communities if they are not provided with alternative sources of income or livelihood generation.

Armed with an estimate of the income that locals derive from forest products, the next stage of my research will be to establish which forest values could be marketed to generate a tangible and sufficient source of financing. A lot of work will also be needed to explore which mechanism would distribute payments most equitably and efficiently with maintained incentives for effective resource protection.

The extraction and use of forest products has been practised for generations, with humans reaping diverse and substantial benefits as a result. The rising global demand for agricultural land and timber, coupled with the decline of cultural ideals that once played a role in the management of forests, has led to the valuation of forests merely by the commodities produced as they are cut down. By creating viable market opportunities for previously ‘free’ benefits of forests, we can create economic incentives to maintain healthy forests. Understanding the relationship between people and forests is crucial for this marketbased approach to work, but designed and implemented carefully there are numerous benefits: protecting biodiversity, habitats, and indirect forest functions; promoting sustainable development; and alleviating poverty through the transfer of wealth from rich to poor countries.

Charlene Watson is an environmental economist at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London. Her research, on the valuation of ecosystem goods and services and the creation of markets for ecosystem services, is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and supported by Frankfurt Zoological Society and the Bale Eco-region Sustainable Management Programme, both international NGOs promoting sustainable resource management in the Bale Mountains.

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Book reviews

Leafing through From the high life 300 feet up in a redwood tree to a practical guide to starting your own community orchard, the International Tree Foundation highlights some this year’s top tree-related reads.

The Wild Trees

by Richard Preston Penguin, £9.99

Open The Wild Trees and enter the extreme world of elite tree climbers and their fascination with the giant redwoods on California’s north coast. Preston gained access to the small group of specialist climbers who venture up the largest and tallest organisms the earth has ever sustained, and describes the world they discover as they explore an ecosystem 30 storeys up in the sky. Told in the style of an adventure story, Preston follows the husband-and-wife team of Steve Sillett and Marie Antoine.

Suspended on ropes, they navigate the deep redwood canopy, a vertical Eden filled with mosses, lichens, spotted salamanders, hanging gardens of ferns, and thickets of huckleberry bushes, all growing out of massive trunk systems that have fused and formed flying buttresses.

Notes from Walnut Tree Farm

by Roger Deakin Hamish Hamilton, £20

Roger Deakin is well known for his powerful and lyrical nature writing in the books Wildwood and Waterlog. Completed just before Deakin’s death in 2006, Wildwood’s journey began with the walnut tree at the writer’s Suffolk home.

This latest offering is compiled from the notebooks Deakin kept for the last six years of his life, in which he wrote his daily thoughts,

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impressions, feelings and observations.

Presenting an optimistic view of our changing world, Deakin muses on the natural world that surrounds him, making surprising, charming and often humorous connections between the events he witnesses.

and constitutions, planting, conserving and attracting wildlife, and celebrating the fruits of your labour. It also contains contact details for support groups, nurseries and equipment, offers tips for funding, and features 90 colour photos of community orchards and their harvests.

A World Without Bees

by Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum Guardian Books, £9.99

Community Orchards Handbook

by Sue Clifford and Angela King Common Ground, £12.95 Offering both practical advice and the philosophy behind the burgeoning community orchard movement, this handbook is a must for anyone contemplating becoming an orchardist.

It’s produced by Common Ground, the arts/environmental charity that has pioneered the revival of the community orchard, and the organisation has packed 20 years of knowledge and experience, shared by community orchardists all over the country, into this resource.

From adopting an old orchard to creating a new one, it provides guidance on how to get started, choosing legal structures

Albert Einstein said that “if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left. No more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”

This is the terrifying prospect that Benjamin and McCallum tackle in this very accessible book as they investigate the reasons behind the rapid decline in the numbers of western honeybees. Colony Collapse Disorder is the honeybee ‘plague’ that has already killed millions of bees worldwide, and the authors explore some of the many explanations suggested from the condition – from pesticides to climate change – and examine possible solutions to the crisis.

Supporting ITF

Green benefits ITF is delighted to share the success of our corporate sponsors – the more they grow their business, the more we grow the trees!

• Echo Research provided four staff from its Godalming office team who travelled to Mottisfont Abbey, Hampshire to help return the banks of the River Dun to its 17th-century glory by planting oaks and maples.

Volunteer Emily-Jane Ellery explained: “We are pleased to have been able to make a positive impact on this landscape by restoring the valley to the way it was. I am also grateful that as a company we are encouraged to support schemes such as the International Tree Foundation, to reduce our long-term impact on the environment and offset our carbon footprint.” The trees planted by Echo are expected to absorb almost 11,000kg of the climate-changing gas CO2 in their lifetime.

In good company The work of the International Tree Foundation is made possible by the generosity of members and supporters. Working with companies that understand how supporting ITF’s work helps them to fulfil their corporate social responsibility is a crucial element of that support.

By becoming an ITF partner, a company can help to offset its carbon footprint. By supporting ITF’s overseas projects, businesses also contribute to improving the lives of communities which rely on trees for food, shade, fuel and building materials.

ITF is a unique organisation. No other tree charity works both in the UK and in so many countries overseas, and at such a micro community level. Through individual and corporate support, ITF projects have a real impact on the daily lives of ordinary people in need.

How can your company help ITF? ITF recognises that companies are like people – every one is individual. So the first step to becoming a corporate sponsor is to talk through your business’s needs and wishes with you so that we can draw up an agreement to suit your company. This may involve: • A regular annual donation – which enables ITF to commit to longer-term planning • Donations tied to transactions – so the more sales a business makes, the greater the support it gives to ITF’s work • Payroll giving – where staff can opt to donate regularly from their salary • Planting days – ITF is happy to arrange for a team of employees to bring their wellies and plant trees at a UK site. It’s a great company day out and a valuable team-building exercise • One-off fundraising events – where ITF is nominated as the beneficiary charity.

• CHEP, a global pallet company, has supported ITF’s work since February 2007. By giving ITF a contribution every time a customer signs up for an electronic rather than paper invoice, CHEP also demonstrates its commitment to environmentally friendly working practices. CHEP is particularly supportive of ITF’s work in Eastern Europe, and its donations have enabled a new project in Kosovo, where trees will have a role in bringing about reconciliation as community members work together to improve the environment.

• Rackspace, a web hosting company, gives ITF a donation for every new server it signs. Last year alone, this enabled ITF to plant almost 3000 indigenous trees in the UK – and with Rackspace’s business doing well, there will be even more in 2009.

• Westinghouse Rail Systems’ staff chose ITF to benefit from its Green Transport day this year – and ITF was able to arrange tree planting with the proceeds. Westinghouse chose six sites near its regional offices around the country for planting trees.

Westinghouse staff took part in the planting at Borde Hill, West Sussex and at Burngreave, South Yorkshire.

To find out more about the work of ITF contact: The International Tree Foundation, Sandy Lane, Crawley Down, West Sussex RH10 4HS Phone 01342 717300 email info@internationaltreefoundation.org www.internationaltreefoundation.org

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Not yet a member of the International Tree Foundation? Join today!

We are all custodians of our planet. Today, the need for a commitment to planting, protecting and promoting trees has never been more urgent, with climate change one of the greatest threats facing us all. By supporting the International Tree Foundation (ITF) and its tree-planting programme, you can become part of the solution.

Plant for the future When you join the International Tree Foundation, we will dedicate a recently planted tree to you and give you details of where it is planted.

You will also: • receive regular ebulletins updating you on events in your local region • receive a directory of ITF's commemorative planting sites • be the first to hear about events and talks of interest, both locally and nationally • have the opportunity to take part in local tree-planting events • meet like-minded people interested in protecting the environment • be part of an organisation working for a greener future.

As a membership organisation, ITF is unique in that it plants trees in the UK while also increasing the numbers of trees in developing countries. Your support means that ITF can do more of both.

To pay by credit/debit card please visit our website www.internationaltreefoundation.org

✁ Alternatively, complete this form in block capitals and return it to: The International Tree Foundation, Sandy Lane, Crawley Down, West Sussex RH10 4HS or phone 01342 717300.

Membership rates h Single adult/double adult: £20/£30 h Family membership (two adults and all children under 15 at the same address): £30 h Concession rate (student or senior citizen): £15 h Concession rate (double senior citizen): £20 h Overseas membership single/double: £25/£35 h Life membership single/double: £500/£750 Optional donation to tree planting: £ Name/s: Address:

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I enclose a cheque/postal order made out to 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.

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To find out more about the work of ITF contact: The International Tree Foundation, Sandy Lane, Crawley Down, West Sussex RH10 4HS Phone 01342 717300 email info@internationaltreefoundation.org www.internationaltreefoundation.org