Restoring the Life Support Systems of the Planet since 1991.
The restoration of degraded lands the world over is of the utmost importance. The lost of forested lands that buffered the effects of climate change, provided the environmental services essential for life, and offered livelihoods for the people and communities that protected them must be addressed. Call me! Maybe?Every person, organization, community, nation, and international organization has a role to play. The challenge is to link those with the capacity to support in the field demonstrations by those with the capacity to create forest management examples that simultaneously address environmental, economic, and community needs.
International Updates
It has been a year of ‘getting on with the work of transformation for women at the local level. Improving livelihoods, food security, and economic potential by marketing and introducing the concept of kitchen gardens as a way for women to have produce to sell, trade and feed their families.
With many men attempting the immigration route via Mexico to the USA, in the region where TTP works, the living situation is made up of compounds of women: grandmothers, aunties, sisters and children. Some men manage to immigrate with visas and can then return possibly once a year, others who manage the illegal route, cannot return and send remittances to support the families at home in Honduras. Of course as it is not easy to earn large sums of money in the US at least not on arrival, these men often get another wife, another family and the remittances dry up. The family group is able to survive by many women pooling resources together. It is not ideal, but it is survival.
Introducing the concept of Analog Forestry and kitchen gardens with the support of G2, has been very much welcomed. Currently there are 8 women who have raised table beds and have their first season of growing food forests. The women have successfully been growing tomatoes, beets, radishes, carrots, cilantro and greens of various types. These they can use in their cooking, sell or barter with other people in the community. Each is starting a small food forest nursery as we gather seeds for planting out in 2018-19. As women cluster around the planting days, ideas are exchanged, problems shared and solutions offered. It is like a meeting at the river to wash clothes, an informal women’s gathering space, a place for talking community politics, for resolving family disputes and generally being supportive one to another. Policy dialogue and change for women starts here over the seeds and sharing.
International Restoration Volunteer Work : Interested in working on biodiversity restoration on international community-based projects with the Tree Project? Click here to view current opportunities.
Restoration at our site in Knowlesville, New Brunswick, Canada.
Every spring for over the last twenty years, we don our work boots with our wonderful staff and volunteers, including Geoff Ritchie, one of the founding directors and an arborist in Fredericton; Sally McIntosh, Ketchum Ridge; David Cozac, Keswick Ridge, Jean Arnold, Knowlesville; Tegan Wong-Daugherty, Knowlesville and many others.
Email us to arrange a visit or to come help us plant!
This summer we planted a red oak sapling to honour our friend Art, who passed away February 2018. May his legacy of helping others be inspiration to others.
Community Development
Sanjit “Bunker” Roy (who co-founded the Barefoot College) described the school to His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama at the Mind & Life Conference in Zurich.
Watch this amazing dialog and learn about the Barefoot approach, Grandmother power and more...
Bunker Roy receiving a prize for the Barefoot College work in
Rajasthan, India from HRH Prince of Wales.