Somewhere in the world, precisely in Nepal, Madagascar, Haiti and Ethiopia someone is trying to reduce extreme poverty and restore healthy forests by employing local villagers to plant millions of trees, this is called "The Eden Projects. Plant Trees. Save lives.".
The mission of this nonprofit organisation is strictly linked with the opportunity of planting trees and at the same time creating jobs in the local economies on the behalf of donors, businesses, and foundations. The main objective is to recreate healthy forest systems that enable the local economics sustains themselves.
Their goal by 2020 is to plant 100 million trees each year and employ thousands of people in countries where poverty is severe.
Here below a short summary of the different projects:
NEPAL: This country is extremely poor and the population depends from the natural environment for the supply of food, shelter and incomes. Therefore, it is essential to educate the local population about the protection of the environment in order to maintain the lands and life conditions.
MADAGASCAR: This island has over 200,000 different species of plants and animals that do not exist anywhere else in the world. Recently, over 90% of Madagascar’s original forests have been destroyed putting at risk the flora and fauna.
Eden Projects launched "The Mangrove project" which is replenishing about 1.4 Million trees per month. The Mangrove tree grows in saline coastal habitats in tropics and subtropics areas, they have huge root systems that enable them not only to withstand the changing of the tides, but also to hold the ground from washing away with the changing of floods.
HAITI: Haiti is one of the most environmentally degraded countries on earth, mainly because the majority of the population uses charcoal as their primary cooking fuel and the charcoal production determinate the constant deforestation of the island. Furthermore, in the last decades hurricanes and earthquakes contributed to the soil degradation and as consequence 98% of Haiti’s forests have already disappeared.In the recent years, in order to improve the situation of this country, local schools have been involved and students are now taught how to growing seedlings of their own.
ETHIOPIA: The Ethiopian project is on hold for lack of funds. There is the need for a partner groups in Ethiopia willing to support the needy and the environment.
These all are great projects and anyone who is interested in being involved more can visit the website below for further information:
http://www.edenprojects.org/
